Boise Idaho

IDAHO STATE LIBRARY
BOISE, IDAHO
OREGON SHORT LINE STATION, BOISE
PUBLISHED BY
BOISE COMMERCIAL CLUB
BOISE, IDAHO
Boiae Poat Office
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[IOU recall, dear reader, how Ulysses
was bound on board his ship and
his ears filled with wax to prevent
the delusive songs of the sirens of the
enchanted isles from luring him to their
shores.
These pages were written to induce you
to cast your lot with us in this Eldorado of
the wesl Fill not your ears with wax; we
invite you to no enchanted land where
sirens sing, but to a city and country that
are not only fair as a poet's dream, but
replete with opportunity for you to win not
only a living, but where a reasonable degree
of efort, industry, perseverance and fore­
sight, will, in a reasonable time, win a
modest fortune.
Be assured of this: Nothing herein is
exaggerated. Care has been taken to keep
within the limits of sober fact.
We beg a careful reading of this booklet.
It will prove interesting and if you act
upon the suggestion made herein it will
be to your lasting profit.
Naturally, kind reader, you want to know something about
the state in general where you are invited to make your home.
A half century has hardly elapsed since the Argonauts of
the west built their camp fires in what is now known as Idaho
and began to lay here the foundations of a great state.
Since then cities and villages have sprung into being as
Minerva from the brow of Olympian Jove, vast areas of sage­brush
plains have been changed into waving fields of grain
and billowy sweep of orchard and vineyard. The mountains
have yielded their hoarded treasures and peace and plenty
fold their white wings over happy homes and a prosperous
people.
Idaho is nearly 480 miles long and ranges from 45 to 825
miles in width. It has an area of 84,000 square miles. It is
nearly equal in area to the state of New York and Pennsyl­vania
combined. Its acreage is something over 54,000,000.
Its present population is 350,000 and is rapidly increasing.
The elevation varies from 700 feet above the sea level in the
extreme west to 10,000 in the extreme east. It is a land of
fertile valleys and mountains rich in ore. So varied are its
surface and elevation that all varieties of climate are found
here. Notwithstanding its high altitude, the climate is one
of the finest in the world, owing to the influence of the Japan
current. The average mean temperature is 56 degrees, milder
by five degrees than Ohio, and by 12 degrees than Maine and
New Hampshire. Open air work is performed every day in
the year, sunstrokes, cyclones, floods and severe storms are
unknown in its borders except as memories of such inflictions
endured elsewhere.
Idaho is a land of almost perpetual sunshine, the state
averaging 124 clear days each year and showing 800 fair days
to Boston's 191.
Rain seldom falls in Idaho during harvest time and crops
are often gathered up to the time snow flies.
The agricultural resources of Idaho rank very high. Its
21,000,000 acres of agricultural lands will produce every
variety of crops known to the temperate zone. Wheat yields
on an average 80 bushels to the acre, but yields as high as 80
have been reported; barley 40 bushels to the acre; oats 55 to
90, weighing 40 pounds to the bushel; rye is produced in large
quantities and grows nicely even in the arid belt without irri­gation;
fine corn is produced in the irrigated districts. All the
natural grasses grow here profusely, and alfalfa and clover
usually yield three crops annually of from four to eight tons
to the acre. All kinds of vegetables are grown in abundance.
The sugar beet is extensively cultivated, and the sugar beet
industry is one of the most important in the state. The total
value of the eight principal farm products of the state for the
year 1912 is about $40,000,000.
Idaho is celebrated for its fruits of all kinds except those
of the citrus family. Idaho apples have no su.perior in the
markets of the world. She is equally famous for her peaches,
pears, apricots and berries.
Four thousand cars of fruit were shipped from Idaho
during the year 1912. There are in the state 142,000 acres
of bearing fruit trees.
Idaho is a natural stock state. Its 8,000,000 acres of
grazing lands afford good ranges. Sheep are very profitable.
This industry alone puts into circulation annually among the
farmers, laborers, and merchants $7,000,000. There are over
2,000,000 head of sheep in the state, and over $18,000,000
capital invested in the industry. In 1912 the wool shipment
from Idaho amounted to 19,200,000 pounds, from which were
received $8,250,000, which profits were increased by $4,750,-
000 from the sale of mutton.
Dairying is a very profitable industry in Idaho, as also
is mining. The timber resources of the state are almost illim­itable.
Her forest area of 20,000,000 acres contains
enough merchantable timber to supply the west for the next
500 years if it is properly conserved.
Educationally, Idaho takes high rank among the sister­hood
of states. The 3,886,000 acres of land donated by con­gress,
the proceeds of the. sale of which go to the support
of the public schools, provide a large fund, which, by statute
and by act of congress, is so carefully managed that only the
interest can be used. We have a state university, two normal
schools, one state academy, and modern high schools, in all
the towns that are up-to-date
.
in every respect. Idaho pays
a
·
higher annual salary to public school teachers than Ohio or
Indiana. Students are provided with text books by the state.
All of the various religious denominations are well repre­sented
and moral standards are high. Morally and religiously
Idaho people will compare favorably with those of any other
state in the Union.
There is nothing of the "wild and woolly" about Idaho.
Here woman takes her place on a political equality with man;
she has the right of voting.
We have water power in abundance with which to make
electricity, and the state's development along electrical lines
is phenomenal.
U. S. Senator James H. Brady, in an address before
the conference of Governors at Washington, D. C., said as to
his home in Pocatello: "I have not had a fire in my house
to cook by for seven years, nor a fire to heat the house, either.
We heat our home, we light our house, we heat our bath water
for domestic use, and we do our cooking, make our ice cream
and churn the butter, do the washing and ironing, and the
girls even wash the dishes by electricity."
Into such an environment we invite you. Should you cast
in your lot with us, you will be in a state where cities and
towns grow as if by magic, where, in the course of a few
I I I II I I II I II II
years, the sage-brush plains give way to the modern city with
its electric lights and its trolley lines, where there is health,
wealth, happiness and abundance for all.
A BIT OF HISTORY
You recall Keats' striking lines in which he compares the
surprises and delights of Chapman's Homer to the discovery
of the Pacific when stout old Cortez and all his men looked
upon that vast expanse of water in wonder and, "silent upon
a peak in Darien."
Something like this happened when in 1834 some French
Canadian explorers, a part of Captain Bonneville's expedition,
whose exploits were described so graphically by Washington
Irving, pitched camp on the mesa overlooking the site where
Boise now stands and looked down upon the valley through
which rippled a river of surpassing loveliness through ranks
of nodding poplars.
They had traveled for many days through dust and sage­brush
in the heat of summer; they had not seen a tree for
hundreds of miles. When they saw the trees along the river
they exclaimed: "Les bois, les bois! Voyez les bois!" "The
woods, the woods, see the woods!"
It is from this circumstance that the Boise river takes its
name, and the city was named after the river.
On the 28th of June, 1863, Major Lugabill of the United
States army with a troop of cavalry, pitched camp on what
is now known as Government Island. His object was to
select a suitable place to establish a military post. About the
6th of July the same year he selected and located the present
site of Fort Boise, now Boise Barracks.
A few days after that Cyrus Jacobs, H. C. Riggs and
Frank and Thomas Davis laid out the town of Boise.
Boise grew with the growth of the territory. It was the
territorial capital, and when statehood was obtained in I 890
it became the capital of the state, and is now as it bas been
for many y.·ars, the financial, social and political metropolis
of the state.
LOOKING WEST ON MAIN STREET
THE STORY OF BOISE
One of the old Hebrew writers in a burst of poesy, said
of Jerusalem: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth."
Boise is beautiful for situation as was Jerusalem and it
is the pride of the entire northwest. It is the best little city
in the United States. It is substantially built, it is strictly
up-to-date in every detail, its business and social and educa­tional
advantages are inferior to none, and it offers to the
homeseeker an opportunity to get rich if he is poor and to get
well if he is sick.
Boise is located about half way b􀁈􄡴tween Salt Lake City
and Portland on the Oregon Short Line Railroad. Its popu­lation,
including its immediate environment, is in excess of
25,000.
The city nestles in the encircling arms of a series of sur­rounding
foothills that protect it from the severer blasts that
sometimes blow across the mesa.
Its altitude of 2760 feet above the sea level removes it
from any danger from malaria and brings the invigorating
ozone from the mountains with health and healing on its wings.
Here is an opportune occasion to say that Boise is the
healthiest city in the United States. Its death rate per thous­and
as shown by the government reports of the troops of cav­alry
located here, is the lowest of any other section where gov­ernment
troops are located.
Boise, and the entire Boise Valley is a natural sanitarium.
As there is something in the climate and surroundings that
destroy certain fruit pests that greatly trouble other sections
of the west and can only be destroyed by much pains and
effort, so there is also something in the climate and environ­ment
that is destructive to many disease germs, especially
tuberculosis.
Boise has never had a case of sunstroke. No cyclones,
no severe storms, very little thunder and lightning, no earth­quakes.
Its climate is all that could reasonably be desired. There
are only a very few nights in summer that people do not sleep
under blankets. For a few weeks in summer the days are
warm, but not severely so; the nights are cool. The winters
are as a general rule mild. The climate is of that bracing
kind that does not enervate like that of Southern California;
it stimulates and strengthens.
Naturally you would suppose climatic conditions in Boise
would be about the same as in other places of similar latitude.
Not so. The mean summer temperature as given in oficial
publications of the United States weather bureau is 70 de­grees,
the average minimum temperature of summer is 54
degrees; the average winter temperature is 32 degrees, the
average minimum 26.
There are periods in winter when the ground is frozen
and children can enjoy the luxury of skating on the adjacent
sloughs, but there are days at a time when the temperature
does not fall below the freezing point. During some winters
flowers bloom out of doors in January and wild flowers often
are found in the bills as early as February; roses bloom in
Boise door-yards nearly up to Christmas.
BOISE CLIMATE
By Director Wella, U.S. Weather Bureau
The climate of Boise is influenced noticeably by the pre­vailing
westerly winds, which blow over this region from the
north Pacific Ocean, and by the mountain barrier on the
northeast, which protects from the severe cold waves that
are so prominent a factor of the weather east of the Conti­nental
Divide. For this reason the climate here is milder
than is found in the same latitude farther east. The mean
annual temperature is 50.6 degrees, which is about the same
as is found in northern Kansas. The January mean is 29.3,
which is about the same as is found in western Oklahoma
and central Missouri, while the July mean is 72.8, which is
about the same as that found in southern Minnesota. In
summer the temperature occasionally exceeds I 00 degrees
for a short time in the afternoon, but at such times the hu­midity
is low, and these hot afternoons are usually followed
by cool, pleasant evenings. In winter the temperature occa­sionally
falls below zero, but this does not occur every win­ter,
and when it does occur there is almost entire absence
of wind. The winters are moist, but the rainfall is not
heavy. The annual rainfall is slightly less than that at Los
Angeles, California, and is considerably less than one-third
that at New York City. Some snow falls, but it seldom re­mains
on the ground long enough to make good sleighing.
Light wind velocities are a striking feature of the climate
of Boise. The average wind velocity at Boise is five miles
per hour. This feature, together with the equable temper­ature
and light rain􀀂􀉡all, make it possible to sleep out of
doors in comfort during the entire year. The relative humid­ity
is high in winter but low in summer and varies consider­ably
at diferent hours of the day, being much higher in the
morning than in the afternoon. There is an abundance of
sunshine during the spring, summer and fall, the only period
of deficiency being in the winter months. There is an aver­age
of 26 hours more sunshine per month at Boise than at
New York City, taking the year as a whole. In summer
the contrast is much greater.
OWYHEE HOTEL
Visitors often express surprise at the absence of high
winds here. Windows may without discomfort be kept open
nearly every day in the year. The average wind movement is
only from five to six miles an hour.
Rain falls here mostly during the winter months. The
precipitation for winter is 5.2 inches; spring, 8.7 inches;
summer, 1.8, and fall 2.7 inches. The special article by Mr.
Wells of the U.S. Weather Bureau appearing on another page
may be read in this connection.
Boise has 800 days of sunshine during the year. Modern
scientists say: "Everything from the sun." Think of the
prodigality of good things that must be lavished upon the in­habitants
of Boise!
When it is said that Boise is in every respect a modern,
up-to-date city, about all the ground has been covered. This
statement includes all modern appliances and conveniences,
electric lights, street cars, trolley lines, telephones, a good
water system, cement walks, paved streets, ample sewers, and
modern business, educational, religious, benevolent and social
institutions.
Boise has over I 00 miles of cement sidewalks and 15 miles
of hard surface pavement.
Her modern and well equipped fire department, one of the
best in the entire northwest, together with its splendid water
system by which water can be thrown over the highest build­ings
with ease and dispatch, makes insurance rates very reas­onable.
Boise has large wholesale houses in all lines, and the very
best of retail stores and groceries.
No city, anywhere, can boast better and more tastefully
and elegantly decorated store windows than Boise. This fea­ture
excites much comment from visitors.
The hotels of the city are famed far and wide as being
modern, up-to-date hostleries.
Among the public buildings of note are the capitol build­ing,
the city hall, the peniteitiary, the Soldiers' Home, the
Gnited States Assay Ofice building, the Federal building in
which is the post ofice and all the Federal ofices, the Carne­gie
Library building, the Natatorium and the Pinney Theater.
The United States Government has a building for the use
of the Reclamation service.
A glance at the cuts of business blocks in this booklet will
give an idea of the character of business and ofice buildings
of Boise.
·All the leading religious denominations are well repres­ented.
The same is true of benevolent and social orders.
The Y. M. C. A. own a large building which has a fine audi­torium,
and all the accessories of a modern institution of its
kind. The Y. W. C. A. have recently purchased the building
formerly used for the ofices of the Independent telephone
company and which they refitted and remodeled as a home for
the members of this organization.
It is worthy of mention in connection with Boise as a re­ligious
center that the Catholics have a fine new cathedral
PINNEY THEATRE.
almost complete, costing about $180,000, and maintain a resi­dent
bishop.
The Episcopal church also maintains a resident bishop.
Boise has two up-to-date hospitals, the St. Luke's and the
St. Alphonsus.
It has two daily newspapers, one morning paper, the
Idaho Daily Statesman, and one· evening paper, the Capital
News, each with complete telegraphic service.
Recently the Idaho Club Womim, and See Idaho First
magazine was removed to Boise. Illustrated Idaho, now in its
third year, is published here.
·
Boise is well supplied with amusements. The Pinney
Theatre puts on high class drama and comedy, and we have
a number of high grade picture shows, and two theaters de­voted
to stock company and vaudeville.
Boise is headquarters for one of the best baseball leagues
in the northwest and has fine ball grounds within a few
blocks from the main portion of the city.
The White City on the grounds of the Natatorium has a
scenic railway, a joy wheel, a fun factory, pavilion and skat­ing
rink, a picture show building, a band stand that will seat
60 musicians, a miniature railway, a lake for boating in the
summer and skating in the winter, an ostrich farm, and other
attractions.
Within a few miles of Boise, down the Boise Valley, is
Pierce Park, where there is a fine dancing pavilion, a beauti­ful
scenic lake for boating, splendid trees for shade, an ideal
place for picnic parties and for families to spend a few hours
away from the dust of the city.
The various labor unions are well represented. The va­rious
printing plants, including those of the two daily papers,
have large pay rolls. The larger insurance companies have
branch ofices here and this swells the volume of money that
is in circulation in the city.
The legislature meets here every two years and Boise is
the home of the state and federal offices, the members of the
supreme court, and of the district court. Some of the wealth­iest
men of the state have built their homes here and live
here. Boise bas, each year, a large number of visitors who
make the city their headquarters while they go on fishing and
hunting trips.
This section of Idaho is a veritable hunters' and fishers'
paradise. Grouse, sage hens, quail and all kinds of small
game are found here in abundance and the bigger game can
be found in the mountains within a reasonable distance from
Boise.
The finest kind of speckled trout are in our mountain
streams and lakes. Many throng here in season for hunting
and fishing.
One of the best indications of the substantial character of
a city is its banking institutions. Measured by this test
Boise has good reasons to be proud. In the history of the
SOME OF BOISE'S BUNGALOWS
city there has been only two bank failures. All of the banks
of Boise are on a solid basis. They are conservative and yet
progressive and are managed by conservative and careful
men. The buildings in which they are housed would reflect
credit on a city of 100,000 inhabitants. The total bank clear­ings
of all the banks in the city for 1912 were $41,116,905.98.
In 1912 the six banks of the city had on deposit over $6,000,-
000. The average deposit in the city banks for the same year
was $552, probably as high as any in the country. Over
$1,000,000 are invested in bank furniture, fixtures and build­ings.
Boise's water system is one of the best in the United
States. It furnishes water of the highest standard of pur­ity
at a reasonable cost. Some of the supply comes from ar­tesian
wells located in the foothills above the city and some
from the river filtered through a natural filter of sand and
gra,·el into large wells and from there pumped into mains.
Boise has a good gas plant with an investment of $500,-
000. This plant paid out in wages in the city in 1912, $12,-
000, and expended in improvements during the year $47,-
000. The total capacity of the storage plant is 150,000 cu­bic
feet.
Many of the families of Boise use either gas or electri­city
for cooking.
Tap any of the mains of the Boise water system any time of
the day or night, anywhere in the city, and you get a glass
of pure, sparkling water, cool and refreshing. The Boise
water system represents an investment of $500,000 and has
a capacity of 800,000 cubic feet per 24 hours.
Electricity for lighting, heating and power purposes is
furnished mainly by the Idaho and Oregon Light and Power
Company, as formerly known. Since the consolidation of the
traction interests this company is in the merger and is now a
part of the Idaho Traction Company.
This Company procures power from three plants, the
Barber plant on the Boise river, the Horseshoe Bend plant on
the Payette river, and the Swan Falls plant on the Snake
river. T)lese plants have a combined capacity of 12,000
horsepower, and may be enlarged to double that amount.
This company also has a large plant partly completed at
Ox Bow on the Snake river which will be capable of deliver­ing
30,000 horse power for electrical energy. Boise, Nampa,
Caldwell, Ontario, Payette and Weiser are among the towns
supplied with power by this company.
The Beaver River Power Company, which has been oper­ating
in Utah for about five years, is now operating quite ex­tensively
in southern Idaho. It has a development hydraulic
plant on the Malad river of 7500 horse power capacity and
with an ultimate development of 30,000 horse power. The
Malad river is only 2ljz miles long from its origin in the
lava rocks, and no ice has ever been known to form on it,
so that all danger of hindrance from ice is eliminated. This
company has a line from the Malad to Boise of 90 miles. It
supplies power and light to a number of other places along
the line and will extend to Weiser and the lower country
this season where they will supply power for pumping pur­poses.
They have laid their lines throughout Boise and are
supplying a number of people. On 17th and River streets,
Boise, the company have a steam turbine generating plant
of 2500 horse power capacity which is for reserve in case of
emergency either to lines or plant on the Malad river.
Supplementary to the general educational institutions of
Boise are the summer Chautauqua and the Summer Normal
School. The Chautauqua has been running now for three
years and is attracting wide attention. Its board employs the
very ablest Chautauqua talent in the nation and the lectures
and entertainments are of a very high order and contribute
to the pleasure and information of many people who come here
from different parts of the state to attend. Some of the very
best musical talent available present their best programs at
the Boise Chautauqua.
The Summer normals are largely attended by those about
to tngage in teaching and those who wish to refresh them­selves
in theory and practice. It is under state management
and some of the very best educational talent in the United
States are among the lecturers and instructors at this school.
The State Teachers' association holds its annual session in
Boise.
Boise is especially a city of beautiful homes. It is one of
the most picturesque cities in the west. Here we get a glimpse
of the Owyhees lifting their heads in the snow. We see the
pines nodding on the adjacent slopes of the mountains. The
sunrise strikes no fabled Memnon into chastened music but it
touches the green grass and flowers of the hills into glad­dening
smiles. No Euphrates pours its golden tide through
our streets, out the cool and limpid water from our irrigating
canals ripples its musical laughter from the Natatorium to the
Soldier's Home. How Rembrandt and Millet would have re­joiced
to set up their easels amid so much loveliness and
spread its magic charm about Boise.
􀁝􅴱1any of the rich mining and stock men build homes and
live here and educate their children. The cultured throng
here; and here the poor who want to better their condition find
EMPIRE BUILDING
a shelter and an opportunity to achieve; here the poor get
rich and the sick get well; it is the home of the artist and
the laborer, the civilian and the soldier, the man of business
and the man of leisure. Come and cast in your lot with us.
POINTS OF VANTAGE
You are interested in kno􀁍􄵩ing what gives Idaho its su­premacy.
It is the supply point for the rich mining and
agricultural country adjacent. This is one item.
You must know that the mines of the Boise Basin, and
Silver City, of Neal and Pearl, together with the important
placer mines along the Boise and the Snake, employ a large
number of men and demand a large amount of supplies.
While the Basin and the Owyhee mines are not producing
as largely in gold, silver and lead as they did some years ago,
they are still large producers. They make a market for the
lliE PAYE1TE LAKE, BOISE'S SUMMER RESORT
products of the ranches of the Boise Valley and also for all
kinds of supplies which the Boise wholesale trade furnishes.
A statement as to the immense wholesale trade of Boise may
be found on another page of this booklet.
The sheep industry calls for its quota of supplies, a very
large part of which Boise wholesalers furnish.
In addition to this, Boise is connected by trolley with all
the near hy towns, and by telephone with all the towns of the
entire Snake river \·alley. These towns pour a large number
of people into the city daily to make purchases they can get
cheaper and better here, and to attend social functions, the­aters,
concerts and fraternal meetings of various kinds, and
the telephone orders come in for goods to be sent by post or
express.
Then again, BoisP is the center of a vast irrigation dis­trict
covering over 800,000 acres of the finest agricultural and
fruit lands in the United States. This vast acreage is rapidly
being reduced to cultivation; it is being cultivated by indus­trious
and frugal people from other states, some of the very
best brawn and brain of the nation, and these help increase
the trade and business of Boise.
Just above the city, on the mesa) where, some 60 years
ago, those French Canadian Voyagers under Captain Bonne­ville
looked down upon the present site of Boise, are now
orchards and smiling fields and happy homes. The recent
extension of our trolley lines all over what is known as "the
bench" brings this large population in touch with our busi­ness
and social life.
In short as all roads once found their center in Rome, so
all roads of business and political life head towards Boise
as the metropolis of the state and arc potent factors in giving
it supremacy.
This feature is worth working out more in detail, so we
invite your attention to some of the main factors of Boise's
supremacy.
FIRST POINT OF VANTAGE-IRRIGATION
In the west, Irrigation is king. Irrigation is almost as old
as human history. Even before the pyramids of Egypt were
built, people knew how to divert water from rivers and streams
and lead them out onto arid plains to make crops grow. In
the valley of the Nile and in many valleys of India were vast
systems of irrigation that made these portions of the Orient
the granaries of the then known world. From the earliest
period of Egyptian history, irrigation was a function of the
government.
Lake Moeris was formed by artificial means from the
natural depression in the Syrian desert in the district of Fa­room,
from which canals were led in all directions to irrigate
the surrounding desert, water being fed into the lake from
the Nile. In many places in the higher districts of Egypt,
water was drawn in buckets by slaves and put into reservoirs
higher up, and this in turn was bucketed still higher, until
the top of the bank was reached when canals led the water
onto the land.
Without irrigation but little could be done in raismg
grain, fruit and vegetables in what is known as southern Ida­ho.
When the mines of the Boise Basin and Silver City were
at their best and pouring into the lap of business hundreds of
millions of gold, the large mining population was supplied
with vegetables and other food stufs from Boise gardens
and the Boise Valley, produced by means of taking small
canals from the Boise river and leading the water out onto
the sage-brush plains.
Idaho leads the world in irrigation. No other state in
the union can boast of such an irrigated area as Idaho; no
other state has expended so many millions of dollars in the
reclamation of arid lands, and no state has so many acres
a\·ailable to public entry. Idaho's canals are the longest;
her engineering feats the most wonderful; and her water
supply the most inexhaustible. No other state has been more
active in securing the benefits of the provisions of the Carey
Act, and, with possibly one exception, no other state has
benefited so much from the U. S. Reclamation Act. And,
furthermore, no other state has done so much and made so
much progress in irrigation through individual effort and
private enterprises.
From a very small beginning so insignificant as to consist
of a single furrow extending from a rivulet to a garden spot
a few rods away, it has developed to embrace an irrigated
district of over 5,000,000 acres of land, with canals aggre­gating
13,000 miles in length and costing approximately
$100,000,000.
Boise is in a position to reap the advantage of a very
large part of the vast systems of irrigation of southern Ida­ho.
In Ada county of which Boise is the county seat, there are
over I 00,000 acres susceptible of irrigation, and it is now
nearly all being irrigated and cultivated.
Boise is practically the center of 300,000 acres of good
irrigated lands.
The state projects developing irrigation in this state are
known as the Carey Act Projects, while the others are gov­ernment
projects.
Of the former, Idaho has projected and in operation 40
diferent enterprises with an area of 2,000,000 acres, and con­templating
in the total cost of construction nearly $70,000,-
000. The estimated length of the main canals of Carey Act
projects is 1,398 miles, and there has already been expended
on them $23,000,000. The acreage already entered under
these projects is 726,000 in round numbers, and the acreage
still open to settlement is over 200,000.
The New York canal furnishes water for irrigating a
large section of very fine agricultural and fruit lands on the
mesa just above Boise. It is almost a river in itself. Already
on the mesa are some of the finest fruit farms and general
ranches anywhere in the west. The volume of water has
heretofore not been large enough in the hot months especially
to suficiently water the crops and fruit trees on the bench,
and so a project was conceived to store the water of the Boise
river to form a supply against the low water of the summer
months. This resulted in one of the most colossal dams for
storing purposes in the known world. The object of this
dam, known as the Arrow Rock Dam, is to store the waters
of the Boise river so that they may be let out into not only
the New York canal, but other canals that irrigate the Boise
Valley in the summer months when water in the river is low.
You will be interested in knowing more of the Arrow
Rock Dam and hence we make a separate paragraph of this
booklet to briefly describe it.
THE ARROW ROCK DAM
It is worthy of note that the Assouan Dam, the greatest
engineering feat of the eastern continent, and the Arrow
Rock Dam, the greatest engineering feat of the western con­tinent,
should be completed about the same time.
The Assouan Dam makes of the Nile a great lake. It
cost $7,500,000. It will irrigate 1,000,000 acres of land
heretofore sterile for lack of water. It is estimated that the
·LOCATION OF ARROW ROCK DAM. 351 f
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annual increase of the value of the cotton crop will be
$20,000,000.
Its double on this continent will bring thousands of acres
of rich land into cultivation.
Victor Hugo said that tQ describe a battle there is needed
a man with chaos in his touch. To describe the Arrow Rock
Dam properly, would require a composite m'an with the bal­anced
talents of Hugo, Ruskin, and Balzac. It is something
colossal. Even a casual view of it rouses feelings of awe.
It has a vast and somber perspective of mountains that spread
their evergreen banners of pine and loom awful and solemn
in rugged grandeur. To chain a river that rushes in cataract
and plunges with almost lightning like swiftness, to hold back
its waters that they do not run to waste in the sea and make
them a lake whose limpid waters can be led out by canals to
make glad the dusty face of the desert in whose wake
!POUNDS 176,000 ACRE-FEET OF WATER:
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will spring up farms and orchards and gardens with apple
and peach tree fruited deep, this was their problem.
In this marvelously inventive age, no task seems too gi­gantic
for the intellect of man, and after years of thought,
the great work was begun; it will be completed, so it is as­serted
by those in charge, in I 9 I 5.
The dam is "built in the Boise river, and the first problem
was what to do with the river while the dam was being
constructed. The answer to this was the digging of a tunnel
80 feet wide, 25 feet high and 500 feet long. It carries the
entire river around the dam site. The engineers excavated
some 80 feet below the river bed to reach the bed rock.
Before beginning the work the government found it nec­essary
to build a town and a railroad. The town is a model
one and the railroad is the only one owned and operated by
the United States government. It is 17 miles in length.
The dam itself is the highest in the world, higher even
than the Assouan dam. The area of its foundation is one
acre. Its maximum height is about 851 feet. It is 16 feet
in width at the top. About 2500 car loads of sand and cement
will be used in its construction. The concerete in the dam, if
placed in a column 10 feet square, would reach to a height
of about 27 miles. The water in the reservoir will cover to
a depth of one foot an acre of 860 square miles. Together
with what is' known as the Deer Flat reservoir, that of Ar­row
Rock will furnish a late season water supply for 240,000
acres of land in Boise Valley. So far the expense of the
construction of the entire Boise project is, in round
numbers, $6,854,000. The total cost of the construction of
this great dam will reach in the neighborhood of $7,000,000,
according to the estimate of the engineers.
We have entered into these details in order to give you
something of an idea of the gigantic character of this great
engineering feat. It stands related in a very large way to
the continued prosperity of Boise. It is one of the factors
that enters into the points of vantage possessed by the capi­tal
city of Idaho.
In addition to this the New York canal on the bench, al­most
a river of itself, irrigates an immense section all imme­diately
tributary to Boise. It is fed by the Boise river and
receives a part of the storage of the Arrow Rock dam.
Beside, two large canals run through the city, also fed
by the Boise river, that furnish water for irrigating lawns in
the city and lands throughout the Boise Valley. Thus it will
be seen, the entire country adjacent to Boise is well supplied
with water for irrigation and other purposes.
The reader must grasp the thought that irrigation is one
of the main factors in the culture of the land in southern
Idaho. As Egypt was said to be the gift of the Nile, so the
. abundant crops that contribute much to the prosperity of
Boise are the gift of irrigation.
Another thing must be impressed indelibly: It is irri­gation
that makes profitable crops of all kinds absolutely
Outlet Galea at Deer Flat Reservoir, Boise Reclamation Project
certain. In many sections of the east and middle west and
south and in New England, the drought often spreads ruin
and makes agriculture uncertain. There is no uncertainty
here in the Boise Valley; you will get a good crop every year.
All you have to do is to tickle the earth with a plow, sow the
seed, put on the water, which you have absolutely under your
control, and your crop is assured.
This feature among other things, is what makes Boise a
most desirable place to live in or to have as headquarters. It
is to irrigation we owe our fruit, our grasses, our grains, our
vegetables, in fact, every thing that soil produces.
􀀁􀅯oise produces the finest fruit in the world. Her apples,
peaches, pears, apricots, cherries, plums and prunes, cannot be
excelled anywhere for flavor and size. Her small fruits,
strawberries, dewberries, blackberries, gooseberries, and the
like, are unrivaled.
Good incomes are received each year from a few acres of
strawberries. A ten acre tract set out in winter apples is an
assured competence, while a twenty acre tract set out in either
prunes, apples or cherries, is a modest fortune.
Five acres properly cultivated and discreetly managed, lo­cated
on the bench, or anywhere in the Boise Valley, will
make a good living for any family. They have at their very
doors by means of our trolley lines access to all the city af­fords
in the way of market, schools, theaters, concerts,
churches and all kinds of wholesome entertainment and
pleasure.
Under another head this booklet will be found a more de­tailed
account of what is profitably produced in and around
Boise.
Under the present homestead law only three years are re­quired
to prove up on a homestead in this state, and a bill has
been introduced in congress to allow 80 years time to pay for
the water right on lands entered under government projects.
It will probably become a law.
FEDERAL BUILDING IDAHO BUILDING
SECOND POINT OF VANTAGE-HOLD ON
ENVIRONMENT
Boise stands immediately related to all the leading indus­tries
and to all the leading towns in this part of the state.
It is a sort of parent of them all. In a business, social and
educational way, it has the most cordial relations with them
all.
The rich mines pour their wealth through the U. S. Assay
ofice located here into its channels of trade. The immense
profits of the large and important sheep industry find their
way into the coffers of Boise merchants and into Boise
banks and gradually reach the masses of the people and the
laboring classes in one way or another.
The great earnings of the large tracts devoted to the cul­ture
of agriculture, fruit and vegetable products help to
swell the wealth of the people of Boise.
The Boise Barracks which is now a four troop post, of
the regular army, on which was recently spent in substantial
improvement $250,000, add quite largely to the money circu­lation
of Boise.
Boise is connected by trolley with Eagle, Star, Middleton,
Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian, and other points, and the people
of all these places do a large shopping trade in Boise. This
leads naturally to a special paragraph on
BOISE'S INTERURBAN LINES
·with the construction of the Interurban line down the
Boise Valley a new era opened for all the intervening sec­tion.
It was built solidly and had first class. car-equipment
and gave first class service.
The line known as the Boise Valley road running up on the
bench and connecting Boise with Meridian and Nampa also
brought Boise into more immediate touch with a very desir­able
class of people and business.
The city also has a fair system of trolley lines reaching
nearly every part and supplying means of transportation.
During the closing months of the last year, however, a
deal was made by which all the electric lines came under one
management. The various lines were taken over and are now
operated under the name of the Idaho Traction Company.
What is known as the Mainland interests have now control
of all the interurban and city lines, and in addition to the
amount already expended, amounting to approximately $8,-
000,000, they are making many improvements and extending
their lines which involves the expenditure of many thousands
more.
This merger gives Boise one of the very best trolley line
service in the west, fully up-to-date. It places Boise within
a few hours of Caldwell, Nampa, and other towns on what is
known as the loop.
A line running clear around the bench puts Boise in close
touch with the large population there. They have a quick and
very satisfactory service.
The amount of interurban mileage is 59 miles; city mile-
·•
Modern Depot of Idaho Traction Company from which all Interurban Can Start
age, 21 miles. The trolley system employs 167. Over $500,-
000 was spent by this company for labor alone during the
past year. Estimated value, $2,000,000. Boise now has the
best interurban system of any city for its size in the United
States.
Among the public buildings of note are the capital build­ing,
the city hall, the Penitentiary, the Soldier's Home, the
United States Assay Ofice building, the Federal building in
which is the post ofice and all the Federal Ofices, the Carne­gie
Library building, the Natatorium, and the Pinney The­ater.
The United States government has a building for the
use of the Reclamation service.
A glance at the cuts of the business blocks in this booklet
will give an idea of the character of business and ofice build­ings
of Boise.
The postal receipts for the year 1911 were $96,902.22, and
for 1912 they were $103,928.31. This shows a very fair in­crease.
There were quite a number of improvements made
in the postoffice building during the past year, a large num­ber
of new boxes were put in and the interior of the ofice
made more handy for the rapidly increasing business.
In addition to furnishing and running an up-to-date trol­ley
interurban system, the Idaho Traction Company owns and
runs one of the very finest (the Natatorium) indoor bathing
resorts in the United States. A detailed description of this
resort is given under the head of Boise Buildings in another
section of this booklet.
Another item under this general head may as well be dis­cussed
here. Boise has already done something in the way
of manufacturing. The city is the natural location for woolen
mills to handle the large wool crop of this part of the state;
for alfalfa mills; for factories to handle the immense output
of vegetables, such as beans and peas and corn, and fruit can­neries.
Her vast resources in the way of electric power make
Boise a natural manufacturing center.
Two large electric power companies now have electric
power in any quantity for sale right here in Boise. This
makes power easy to obtain, and in the next few years no
doubt those interested in new fields to establish manufactur­ing
establishment will turn to Boise as offering the very best
opportunities for profitable manufacturing.
Boise has not as yet done very much in this line but she
has done something.
The following table will give an idea of the beginning that
Boise has made in the line of manufacturing:
MADE IN BOISE
Commodity Investment
Creameries ... .. . ......... .. $ 60,000
Cigars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000
Cement pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000
Candy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85,000
Brooms .................. .
Trunks ................... .
Shirtwaists ............... .
Soap ..................... .
Sweeping c􀁗􅝭mpound ....... .
Briek .................... .
2,000
10,000
1,000
5,000
1,000
10,000
Employees.
40
80
20
60
8
6
8
6
2
10
Qariea ·
.
" ................. 100,00 50
Hai'Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,00 •
Teata, a'WIIiap .. . . . 􀀃􀌮 . . . . . . 5,00 15
Mattreeea . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10,000 10
Apiary roocla . . .. .. .. .. .. .. 10,000 10
Bottlinl planta . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000 15
Foundries and machine shops 100,000 50
Bakeries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,000 80
Packing houses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,000 · 80
Coffee roasting . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,000 5
Brewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150,000 50
Canning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,000 12
Totals .......... ........$ 674,000 478
In addition to the manufacturies already named Boise
has a Sash and Door company, an institution known as the
Capital Sash and Door Company, the Coast Lumber company,
Boise Lumber Company, two ice companies, and two Beef
Packing companies.
The Barber Lumber company has a fine plant with a ca­pacity
of a million feet a day located near Boise. It will re­sume
operations in a few months. This company employs a
large number of men and in addition to its lumber output,
manufactures immense quantities of fruit boxes. In order to
bring its timber to the mill the Barber Lumber company has
perfected plans for building a railroad into the Boise Basin
which will develop considerable new business for this city.
The following paragraphs from the columns of the Idaho
Daily Statesman's annual for 1912 is of interest in this con­nection:
"During 1912 two important manufacturing concerns have
entered the field. They are the Boise Stone company and the
Western Bottling company. Both are organized on broad
lines.
The Boise Stone company has commenced the develop-
FREIGHTING WOOL IN FROM THE RANGE
ment of the splendid stone quarry properties near the city.
The quality of the stone is equal to anything found in the
United States. The company is preparing to ship its pro­duct
to all points in the west. The company is now con­structing
a tramway that will carry the rock to the ship­ping
point.
The Western Bottling company was launched during the
year with a full line of bottled soft drinks, extracts and
specialty goods in the bottled line. It is shipping its pro­ducts
to all points in the intermountain region, and though
but a new concern, is already preparing to enlarge its plans.
The cigar manufacturing business has made a notable
advance in the last year. Local manufacturers have raised
the standard of their goods and made popular their brands.
They have thereby increased the demand for them in their
home territory, and to see a Boise man calling for a Boise
made cigar is no longer an uncommon sight."
BOISE'S VOLUME OF BUSINESS
Boise's volume of business has increased steadily every
year. The much wider area covered by her wholesale trade
in comparison with other cities of much larger size, to­gether
with the reasonable prices at which her merchandise is
offered to purchasers gives Boise a commanding position in
this respect.
Her jobbing trade is one of the factors that makes Ida­ho's
capital great in a business sense.
In the year 1912 the volume of business of Boise was
easily $10,000,000 as compared with $8,000,000 for the pre­vious
year. This, in itself, is a measure of the progress of
one year.
The wholesale district comprises 12 blocks, the buildings
are mostly brick, and the houses include almost every article
used by man from plows to pins and shaving soap.
About 800 people are employed by the jobbers and whole­salers.
The 200 traveling salesmen who make headquarters
in Boise travel from eastern Oregon far into the interior of
southern Idaho. Of the 200 men who work from Boise, 57
are employed by Boise firms.
The implement and dry goods wholesale business show the
largest increases. The implement jobber whose business and
stock of goods are located in Boise have done $50,000 more
business this year than last. The capital and stock of the
implement firms located in Boise exceed $250,000.
The wholesale dry goods trade is credited with doing
$1,250,000 business in 1912.
The wholesale grocery business here has increased ten per
cent the last year and its volume of business foots up $45,-
000,000.
The hardware jobbing business has done well, the busi­ness
in this department amounting to $650,000 the past year.
Packing and produce houses report a good year. The
volume of business of this department is estimated at $1,-
500,000.
The Oregon Short Line reports over 3,818,000,000 pounds
of freight received at the Boise freight depot and 78,982,-
884 forwarded.
BOISE'S SCHOOLS
The public schools of Boise rank with the very best of the
nation. This is quite clear from the report submitted to the
Board of Education by the committee of eminent educators
who recently made a thorough examination of the schools,
courses of study, buildings and methods of teaching. The
committee was composed of Edward Elliott, of the University
of Wisconsin; Dr. Stayer, of Columbia Uni.Yersity, and Dr.
Judd of the Chicago University. Among other things these
eminent educators say in their report:
"The course of study is comprehensive. It includes the
fundamental subjects which have long been recogni􀁣􆍥ed as es­sential
to any school training, and also includes those forms
of organized knowledge and activity which in the last gen­eration
have transformed and enriched the course. Especially
commendable is the full and unqualified recognition of the im­portance
of such matters as health, recreation and various
types of industrial activity."
"The supervisory staff of the school system is organized
in accordance with the practice prevailing in the most pro­gressive
cities of the United States."
"The more evident source of strength of a school system
is the standard of qualifications maintained for the teaching
and supervisory staff. To be eligible for appointment to a
position in the elementary schools, under the existing regula­tions
of the board of education, a teacher must have complet­ed
a four year course of study in the high school; must be a
graduate of a standard two-year normal school; and in addi­tion,
must have had at least two years of successful experi­ence
in a school system of recognized standing. Eligibility
for appointment in the high school is based upon college or
university graduation, and two years of approved teaching ex­perience."
The valuation of the property belonging to the Independ­ent
school district of Boise is about $1,000,000. There are
ten school buildings in the 􀁤􆑩istrict, all of them handsome and
commodious, equipped with the latest apparatus and up-to-
BOISE'S NEW HIGH SCHOOL
date in every respect. The high school building recently com­pleted
is among the finest in the west. There are, at present,
121 teachers in the schools. In 1912 the district paid in sal­aries
to teachers $121,000. The present enrollment is 8943.
There are 875 pupils in the high school.
Another item in relation to the educational institutions
of Boise is that the enrollment in the high school is the great­est
in proportion to the total enrollment than any other cities
in the United States except two, Berkeley, California, and
Newton, Massachusetts, and there is but a shade of difference
in these two exceptions. Berkeley is the seat of the Univer­sity
of California and large numbers of people come there for
the purpose of passing their children from the high school
to the university, which accounts for the largeness of the high
school enrollment there. Newton similarly plays into Har­vard
college. Boise high school enrollment is under normal
conditions and the exceptions noted really add to its proper
fame.
In addition to the ordinary branches of an English grade
and high school education, the Boise school teaches domestic
science, manual training, bookkeeping, stenography and type­writing.
In addition to the public schools, Boise has three private
schools and one business college. Under Protestant Episco­pal
auspices St. Margaret's Hall is a school for girls. It of­fers
good advantages under high morall\uspices. It has been
established 20 years, has fine building.•. good equipment and
teachers. There are at present 100 pupils in attendance.
St. Teresa's Academy, under Catholic auspices, is also a
schcol for girls; has a liberal course of study and a good
corps of instructors.
St. Joseph's is a school for boys and is doing good work.
Link's Business College is recognized as being one of the
very best institutions of its kind in the west.
Those who wish the best educational advantages for their
children, will find them in Boise. Our trolley service enables
people to live anywhere down the Boise Valley, or on the
bench and send their children to school in Boise. Special
rates are given by the trolley company to pupils attending
school.
BOISE FRUIT
The fame of Boise· fruit practically girdles the world.
The soil seems to be especially adapted to the raising of all
kinds of fruit, small and large, excepting, of course, the
tropical fruits. .
In all the competitive examinations of late years, Boise
fruit has taken the palm. The finest prunes in the world are
raised in the Boise Valley. This fruit alone has averaged a
profit to the grower of from $100 to $200 per acre, and the
market is constantly and rapidly growing. There is not much
good prune land anywhere in the west, and hence there is no
probability of over production.
No jucier, or finer looking apples are raised anywhere
A Boise Prize Winnina Exhibit at Apple Show
than in and around Boise. When rightly handled they yield
a profit of from $100 to $400 an acre.
There is no danger of over production, for the apple
market is constantly being enlarged. Millions of people in
different parts of the world are hungry for the delicious ap­ples
produced in this section of the country. With increased
facilities for transportation and a lowering of rates which
will surely come in a few years, the already large profits of
our apple crops, will, no doubt, be increased.
Large areas around Boise are given over to peaches and
cherries. One cherry orchard that has been bearing but a
few years has done so exceptionally well, that its owner es­tablished
a canning plant on his acreage, and is now putting
up the finished product, much to his own advantage. Peaches
do remarkably well, all the finest varieties being produced
in abundance.
Boise pears are the astonishment of all who see and eat
them. For many years California was ahead of all other
states of the west in the matter of raising Bartlet pears. For
a long time Boise Bartlet pears were looked upon as being in­ferior
to the California product, but in point of flavor and
freedom from blemishes, the Boise Bartlett pear far overtops
that of California and is a great favorite in the market.
Apricots are produced in large quantities and are of the
very finest quality.
In the matter of small fruits such as strawberries, rasp­berries,
gooseberries, blackberries, etc., Boise cannot be ex­celled.
A few acres set out in small fruits under any of the irri­gated
canals of this section, is a competence for any family.
Published statements under the signature of some of the
best fruit growers, in and around Boise, men of irreproachable
reputation, will be furnished cheerfully to those who send in
applications, showing what immense profits there are in fruit
raising.
Apart from the general market for fruits as they are
shipped away from here, the local market from the adjacent
mines is exceptionally good and very valuable to the fruit
grower. The mining camps near Boise take a large amount
of fresh fruit and pay good prices for the same.
Then, again, through the eforts of the Commercial Club
and leading citizens of Boise, a canning factory has been
established here, which, while yet in its beginning, has sent
out a large output during the past year and is preparing to do
more.
One feature of the fruit industry of Boise is worthy of
special mention-the certainty of the crop.
With the exception of very early fruit which is sometimes
caught by an early frost, the trees and the vines produce un­failingly.
This liability to fruit is now being avoided by
smudging.
The fruit growers of Boise are not dependent upon un­certain
rains for the maturity of their crops. By virtue of
our splendid irrigation system, the water for necessary quan-
PLACER MINING IN BOISE BASIN
tity is absolutely under the control of the grower, and he can
put it on and take it of at will. There is a wealth of sunshine
that matures the fruit crop, so that fruit growers here are
working with the least possible modicum of risk.
Within a few miles of Boise, either down the valley, or
over the Bench, and within easy access of the city's fine
trolley lines, are good tracts of land that can be obtained very
reasonably. Homeseekers and those desiring to pay special
attention to fruit growing, can secure from five to ten acres,
either more or less, which, when set out in fruit, will yield a
good living, if not a competence, and will grow in value from
year to year.
THE NEW CAPITOL BUILDING
This new Capitol building, the monumental section of
which has rec􀀿􃽮ntly been completed, is an architectural gem.
It was built of native stone quarried from the hills near
Boise, the base of granite. The construction of the building
The Natatorium, BoiM'• Famoua Swimmi.,. Pool, Supplied
by Two Arteaian Wella ol Natural Hot Water
is heavy and substantial, and the materials entering into its
construction are durable. Its dome is a close rival of the
famed dome of the Congressional Library building of Wash­ington,
D. C. The interior is luxurious in its appointments
and admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was built.
It will cost, when completed, $2,000,000. About one million
dollars have already been expended. The building is dis­tinguished
from other capitols in having a bright rotunda,
flooded with light, and in this, that the marble composing its
finish, is of white material with dark green veinings. Its
furnishings are elegant and tasteful. It is heated and ven­tilated
according to the very latest methods.
THE NATATORIUM
This bathing, health and pleasure resort has most appro­priately
been called the Taj Mahal of the west. Its thermal
waters are taken from three artesian wells 400 feet deep and
are 172 degrees Fahrenheit. The building is most pictur­esque
and beautiful, being of the Moorish style of architec­ture.
It has a plunge 120 feet long and 70 feet wide, vary­ing
in depth from two to 16 feet. The bottom of the plunge
is lighted by I 0 submarine electric lights of about 8000 can­dle
power. Facilities are afforded for nearly every kind of
bathing. There are 180 dressing rooms including bath tubs
and steam baths, the latter having massage rooms in connec­tion.
There is a gymnasium on the third floor under the man­agement
of the Boise Athletic club. The artesian wells sup­plying
the Natatorium yield 1,800,000 gallons of water every
24 hours, and are used, in addition to furnishing water for the
baths and heating the building, to supply water to heat a large
number of public buildings and private residences in the city.
The streets of Boise are sprinkled with hot water furnished
from the Natatorium wells. The Natatorium grounds are
handsomely laid out and delightfully shaded. It is a general
resort for the people of Boise, and a mecca for visitors.
The property is valued at $210,000, and they have recently
added improvements amounting to $10,000.
TO THOSE ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN FARMING
Boise and vicinity offer very superior opportunities to
those who wish to enter systematically and thoroughly into
plain, everyday farming. There is probably no place in the
west where an investment of a reasonable amount of money
and intelligent, persevering effort will assure, in so short a
time, not only a competence, but a modest fortune.
Near Boise are rich lands, all under some one of our
irrigating canals that insure plenty of water and large, cer­tain
crops of all kinds of farm products at good prices and
near to market.
Alfalfa is raised here in large quantities, from 4 to 8
tons to the acre in all the three crops of the season. Alfalfa
is one of the very best feeds for cattle, horses, hogs and
sheep. It produces more fat than any other grass. Mills are
going up near Boise for the purpose of grinding the alfalfa
into a meal which goes far and wide to the middle west as
Makina Hay in Idaho-The Sun Alwaya Shinea
feed for stock. Boise Valley farmers have received as high
as $50,000 in one spring from one community in Wisconsin
for Alfalfa for the use of the fine blooded stock there. All
the natural grasses are produced in abundance. Clover yields
two crops a year. Timothy does well. Vegetables of all
kinds especially potatoes and sugar beets.
The latter yield from 15 to 20 tons to the acre with 19
per cent of sugar. They return a profit of $40 an acre. From
250 to 500 sacks of potatoes an acre are produced. In one
instance $1780 was received as the gros!\, returns from six
acres of ground. There are no potato bugs in the Boise
Valley.
Dairying is rapidly developing into a most profitable in­dustry
in the territory immediately adjacent to Boise. Ours
is a section where the cow comes swiftly and surely into her
own. Pasture is good eight and one-half months in the year,
and succulent storage is always obtainable. Steers are
A JERSEY FAMILY
brought to their full weight on pasture and hay and without
one kernel of corn or other grain and these same steers will
bring the highest market price in competition with the corn
fed steers from the middle west. The cost of procuring a
crop of hay is 40 per cent less than that of producing a crop
of corn, and the diference goes into the farmers' pocket.
Poultry is a very profitable by-product of the farm in
the Boise Valley. One of our farmers with a plant covering
20 acres with 60 buildings, and a flock of from 2,000 to 8,000
birds, and a total investment of $5,000, cleared over $2,000
annually. The climate is very favorable to fowls. Eggs sel­dom
fall below 20c a dozen, and average during the year 40c
a dozen.
Hogs are a prolific source of wealth to the farmer of the
Boise Valley. Here hogs can be developed to 150 pounds at
a
.
cost of two cents a pound. With a ration of ground wheat
and barley they can be brought in 60 days additional to from
200 to 225 pounds. It costs from six to seven cents a pound
to fatten hogs; the profit at the rate hogs usually sell for, is
quite evident. An Idaho hog prefers alfalfa to grain.
BOISE'S
.
COMMERCIAL CLUB
It may be proper in this booklet to speak modestly with
reference to the work of the Boise Commercial Club. It is
not many years old but it is fruitful of good works. It is
composed of the leading business men of Boise with quite a
sprinkling of the solid laboring class. Boise's Commercial
club is built upon lines of use. The fourth story of the Boise
City National Bank Building, corner of 8th and Idaho, has
been taken over and is now occupied by the Commercial Club.
Apart from the amusement features and opportunity for
harmless recreation, the Commercial Club rooms are so many
points of energy that raidiates not only over the entire city,
but also over all southern Idaho. Its interests lie not only
for Boise, but for all of the cities and towns in this part of
the state. No question of public interest escapes its scrutiny.
Every good work finds behind it Boise's ·Commercial Club.
Its widening circles of influence extend in every direction.
There are kept on hand at the club rooms all sorts of pamph­lets,
documents and books that tell what Boise is, and the op­portunities
she offers for investment. Its Secretary would be
glad to furnish any of these articles on application.
Additional facts more in detail will be furnished on appli­cation
to the Secretary of the Commercial Club. Special
pamphlets on the principal crops and farming industries are
being prepared and will be sent on application.
You want to know something about the price of lands.
Improved lands with perpetual water right may be bought
for $75 to $150 per acre; unimproved lands with perpetual
water right, $50 to $75 per acre; land with bearing orchards,
$300 to $600 per acre. These prices are not high, but they
are constantly going higher. Considering the dividend-pro­ducing
power, this land is as cheap as any on earth.
AFTERMATH.
Dear reader, our task is done and we are come to the part­ing
of the ways. The story is told and the question presses:
What do you intend to do? What are you seeking in the way
of a life home for yourself and those depending on you? Do
you seek a land where the sun shines
'
and the flowers bloom,
where delicious fruit gladdens the boughs, where the air is
instinct with health, where a competence and even a modest
fortune waits on a modicum of toil? A land of lofty moun­tains
and fertile valleys, where there is opportunity for all,
where you and your dear ones can sit under your own vine
and fig tree and enjoy all the comforts and many luxuries of
life? Where a little money ofers the best return for invest­ment,
the glad, wide land of the Gem of the Mountains where
there is plenty and to spare?
Do any of these things move you? Then act, and act
promptly. Every day's delay is one more opportunity less.
Boise, the beautiful, extends to you a welcoming hand.
W DIR.ECT 'WAY
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Full-text

IDAHO STATE LIBRARY
BOISE, IDAHO
OREGON SHORT LINE STATION, BOISE
PUBLISHED BY
BOISE COMMERCIAL CLUB
BOISE, IDAHO
Boiae Poat Office
\
..
[IOU recall, dear reader, how Ulysses
was bound on board his ship and
his ears filled with wax to prevent
the delusive songs of the sirens of the
enchanted isles from luring him to their
shores.
These pages were written to induce you
to cast your lot with us in this Eldorado of
the wesl Fill not your ears with wax; we
invite you to no enchanted land where
sirens sing, but to a city and country that
are not only fair as a poet's dream, but
replete with opportunity for you to win not
only a living, but where a reasonable degree
of efort, industry, perseverance and fore­
sight, will, in a reasonable time, win a
modest fortune.
Be assured of this: Nothing herein is
exaggerated. Care has been taken to keep
within the limits of sober fact.
We beg a careful reading of this booklet.
It will prove interesting and if you act
upon the suggestion made herein it will
be to your lasting profit.
Naturally, kind reader, you want to know something about
the state in general where you are invited to make your home.
A half century has hardly elapsed since the Argonauts of
the west built their camp fires in what is now known as Idaho
and began to lay here the foundations of a great state.
Since then cities and villages have sprung into being as
Minerva from the brow of Olympian Jove, vast areas of sage­brush
plains have been changed into waving fields of grain
and billowy sweep of orchard and vineyard. The mountains
have yielded their hoarded treasures and peace and plenty
fold their white wings over happy homes and a prosperous
people.
Idaho is nearly 480 miles long and ranges from 45 to 825
miles in width. It has an area of 84,000 square miles. It is
nearly equal in area to the state of New York and Pennsyl­vania
combined. Its acreage is something over 54,000,000.
Its present population is 350,000 and is rapidly increasing.
The elevation varies from 700 feet above the sea level in the
extreme west to 10,000 in the extreme east. It is a land of
fertile valleys and mountains rich in ore. So varied are its
surface and elevation that all varieties of climate are found
here. Notwithstanding its high altitude, the climate is one
of the finest in the world, owing to the influence of the Japan
current. The average mean temperature is 56 degrees, milder
by five degrees than Ohio, and by 12 degrees than Maine and
New Hampshire. Open air work is performed every day in
the year, sunstrokes, cyclones, floods and severe storms are
unknown in its borders except as memories of such inflictions
endured elsewhere.
Idaho is a land of almost perpetual sunshine, the state
averaging 124 clear days each year and showing 800 fair days
to Boston's 191.
Rain seldom falls in Idaho during harvest time and crops
are often gathered up to the time snow flies.
The agricultural resources of Idaho rank very high. Its
21,000,000 acres of agricultural lands will produce every
variety of crops known to the temperate zone. Wheat yields
on an average 80 bushels to the acre, but yields as high as 80
have been reported; barley 40 bushels to the acre; oats 55 to
90, weighing 40 pounds to the bushel; rye is produced in large
quantities and grows nicely even in the arid belt without irri­gation;
fine corn is produced in the irrigated districts. All the
natural grasses grow here profusely, and alfalfa and clover
usually yield three crops annually of from four to eight tons
to the acre. All kinds of vegetables are grown in abundance.
The sugar beet is extensively cultivated, and the sugar beet
industry is one of the most important in the state. The total
value of the eight principal farm products of the state for the
year 1912 is about $40,000,000.
Idaho is celebrated for its fruits of all kinds except those
of the citrus family. Idaho apples have no su.perior in the
markets of the world. She is equally famous for her peaches,
pears, apricots and berries.
Four thousand cars of fruit were shipped from Idaho
during the year 1912. There are in the state 142,000 acres
of bearing fruit trees.
Idaho is a natural stock state. Its 8,000,000 acres of
grazing lands afford good ranges. Sheep are very profitable.
This industry alone puts into circulation annually among the
farmers, laborers, and merchants $7,000,000. There are over
2,000,000 head of sheep in the state, and over $18,000,000
capital invested in the industry. In 1912 the wool shipment
from Idaho amounted to 19,200,000 pounds, from which were
received $8,250,000, which profits were increased by $4,750,-
000 from the sale of mutton.
Dairying is a very profitable industry in Idaho, as also
is mining. The timber resources of the state are almost illim­itable.
Her forest area of 20,000,000 acres contains
enough merchantable timber to supply the west for the next
500 years if it is properly conserved.
Educationally, Idaho takes high rank among the sister­hood
of states. The 3,886,000 acres of land donated by con­gress,
the proceeds of the. sale of which go to the support
of the public schools, provide a large fund, which, by statute
and by act of congress, is so carefully managed that only the
interest can be used. We have a state university, two normal
schools, one state academy, and modern high schools, in all
the towns that are up-to-date
.
in every respect. Idaho pays
a
·
higher annual salary to public school teachers than Ohio or
Indiana. Students are provided with text books by the state.
All of the various religious denominations are well repre­sented
and moral standards are high. Morally and religiously
Idaho people will compare favorably with those of any other
state in the Union.
There is nothing of the "wild and woolly" about Idaho.
Here woman takes her place on a political equality with man;
she has the right of voting.
We have water power in abundance with which to make
electricity, and the state's development along electrical lines
is phenomenal.
U. S. Senator James H. Brady, in an address before
the conference of Governors at Washington, D. C., said as to
his home in Pocatello: "I have not had a fire in my house
to cook by for seven years, nor a fire to heat the house, either.
We heat our home, we light our house, we heat our bath water
for domestic use, and we do our cooking, make our ice cream
and churn the butter, do the washing and ironing, and the
girls even wash the dishes by electricity."
Into such an environment we invite you. Should you cast
in your lot with us, you will be in a state where cities and
towns grow as if by magic, where, in the course of a few
I I I II I I II I II II
years, the sage-brush plains give way to the modern city with
its electric lights and its trolley lines, where there is health,
wealth, happiness and abundance for all.
A BIT OF HISTORY
You recall Keats' striking lines in which he compares the
surprises and delights of Chapman's Homer to the discovery
of the Pacific when stout old Cortez and all his men looked
upon that vast expanse of water in wonder and, "silent upon
a peak in Darien."
Something like this happened when in 1834 some French
Canadian explorers, a part of Captain Bonneville's expedition,
whose exploits were described so graphically by Washington
Irving, pitched camp on the mesa overlooking the site where
Boise now stands and looked down upon the valley through
which rippled a river of surpassing loveliness through ranks
of nodding poplars.
They had traveled for many days through dust and sage­brush
in the heat of summer; they had not seen a tree for
hundreds of miles. When they saw the trees along the river
they exclaimed: "Les bois, les bois! Voyez les bois!" "The
woods, the woods, see the woods!"
It is from this circumstance that the Boise river takes its
name, and the city was named after the river.
On the 28th of June, 1863, Major Lugabill of the United
States army with a troop of cavalry, pitched camp on what
is now known as Government Island. His object was to
select a suitable place to establish a military post. About the
6th of July the same year he selected and located the present
site of Fort Boise, now Boise Barracks.
A few days after that Cyrus Jacobs, H. C. Riggs and
Frank and Thomas Davis laid out the town of Boise.
Boise grew with the growth of the territory. It was the
territorial capital, and when statehood was obtained in I 890
it became the capital of the state, and is now as it bas been
for many y.·ars, the financial, social and political metropolis
of the state.
LOOKING WEST ON MAIN STREET
THE STORY OF BOISE
One of the old Hebrew writers in a burst of poesy, said
of Jerusalem: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth."
Boise is beautiful for situation as was Jerusalem and it
is the pride of the entire northwest. It is the best little city
in the United States. It is substantially built, it is strictly
up-to-date in every detail, its business and social and educa­tional
advantages are inferior to none, and it offers to the
homeseeker an opportunity to get rich if he is poor and to get
well if he is sick.
Boise is located about half way b􀁈􄡴tween Salt Lake City
and Portland on the Oregon Short Line Railroad. Its popu­lation,
including its immediate environment, is in excess of
25,000.
The city nestles in the encircling arms of a series of sur­rounding
foothills that protect it from the severer blasts that
sometimes blow across the mesa.
Its altitude of 2760 feet above the sea level removes it
from any danger from malaria and brings the invigorating
ozone from the mountains with health and healing on its wings.
Here is an opportune occasion to say that Boise is the
healthiest city in the United States. Its death rate per thous­and
as shown by the government reports of the troops of cav­alry
located here, is the lowest of any other section where gov­ernment
troops are located.
Boise, and the entire Boise Valley is a natural sanitarium.
As there is something in the climate and surroundings that
destroy certain fruit pests that greatly trouble other sections
of the west and can only be destroyed by much pains and
effort, so there is also something in the climate and environ­ment
that is destructive to many disease germs, especially
tuberculosis.
Boise has never had a case of sunstroke. No cyclones,
no severe storms, very little thunder and lightning, no earth­quakes.
Its climate is all that could reasonably be desired. There
are only a very few nights in summer that people do not sleep
under blankets. For a few weeks in summer the days are
warm, but not severely so; the nights are cool. The winters
are as a general rule mild. The climate is of that bracing
kind that does not enervate like that of Southern California;
it stimulates and strengthens.
Naturally you would suppose climatic conditions in Boise
would be about the same as in other places of similar latitude.
Not so. The mean summer temperature as given in oficial
publications of the United States weather bureau is 70 de­grees,
the average minimum temperature of summer is 54
degrees; the average winter temperature is 32 degrees, the
average minimum 26.
There are periods in winter when the ground is frozen
and children can enjoy the luxury of skating on the adjacent
sloughs, but there are days at a time when the temperature
does not fall below the freezing point. During some winters
flowers bloom out of doors in January and wild flowers often
are found in the bills as early as February; roses bloom in
Boise door-yards nearly up to Christmas.
BOISE CLIMATE
By Director Wella, U.S. Weather Bureau
The climate of Boise is influenced noticeably by the pre­vailing
westerly winds, which blow over this region from the
north Pacific Ocean, and by the mountain barrier on the
northeast, which protects from the severe cold waves that
are so prominent a factor of the weather east of the Conti­nental
Divide. For this reason the climate here is milder
than is found in the same latitude farther east. The mean
annual temperature is 50.6 degrees, which is about the same
as is found in northern Kansas. The January mean is 29.3,
which is about the same as is found in western Oklahoma
and central Missouri, while the July mean is 72.8, which is
about the same as that found in southern Minnesota. In
summer the temperature occasionally exceeds I 00 degrees
for a short time in the afternoon, but at such times the hu­midity
is low, and these hot afternoons are usually followed
by cool, pleasant evenings. In winter the temperature occa­sionally
falls below zero, but this does not occur every win­ter,
and when it does occur there is almost entire absence
of wind. The winters are moist, but the rainfall is not
heavy. The annual rainfall is slightly less than that at Los
Angeles, California, and is considerably less than one-third
that at New York City. Some snow falls, but it seldom re­mains
on the ground long enough to make good sleighing.
Light wind velocities are a striking feature of the climate
of Boise. The average wind velocity at Boise is five miles
per hour. This feature, together with the equable temper­ature
and light rain􀀂􀉡all, make it possible to sleep out of
doors in comfort during the entire year. The relative humid­ity
is high in winter but low in summer and varies consider­ably
at diferent hours of the day, being much higher in the
morning than in the afternoon. There is an abundance of
sunshine during the spring, summer and fall, the only period
of deficiency being in the winter months. There is an aver­age
of 26 hours more sunshine per month at Boise than at
New York City, taking the year as a whole. In summer
the contrast is much greater.
OWYHEE HOTEL
Visitors often express surprise at the absence of high
winds here. Windows may without discomfort be kept open
nearly every day in the year. The average wind movement is
only from five to six miles an hour.
Rain falls here mostly during the winter months. The
precipitation for winter is 5.2 inches; spring, 8.7 inches;
summer, 1.8, and fall 2.7 inches. The special article by Mr.
Wells of the U.S. Weather Bureau appearing on another page
may be read in this connection.
Boise has 800 days of sunshine during the year. Modern
scientists say: "Everything from the sun." Think of the
prodigality of good things that must be lavished upon the in­habitants
of Boise!
When it is said that Boise is in every respect a modern,
up-to-date city, about all the ground has been covered. This
statement includes all modern appliances and conveniences,
electric lights, street cars, trolley lines, telephones, a good
water system, cement walks, paved streets, ample sewers, and
modern business, educational, religious, benevolent and social
institutions.
Boise has over I 00 miles of cement sidewalks and 15 miles
of hard surface pavement.
Her modern and well equipped fire department, one of the
best in the entire northwest, together with its splendid water
system by which water can be thrown over the highest build­ings
with ease and dispatch, makes insurance rates very reas­onable.
Boise has large wholesale houses in all lines, and the very
best of retail stores and groceries.
No city, anywhere, can boast better and more tastefully
and elegantly decorated store windows than Boise. This fea­ture
excites much comment from visitors.
The hotels of the city are famed far and wide as being
modern, up-to-date hostleries.
Among the public buildings of note are the capitol build­ing,
the city hall, the peniteitiary, the Soldiers' Home, the
Gnited States Assay Ofice building, the Federal building in
which is the post ofice and all the Federal ofices, the Carne­gie
Library building, the Natatorium and the Pinney Theater.
The United States Government has a building for the use
of the Reclamation service.
A glance at the cuts of business blocks in this booklet will
give an idea of the character of business and ofice buildings
of Boise.
·All the leading religious denominations are well repres­ented.
The same is true of benevolent and social orders.
The Y. M. C. A. own a large building which has a fine audi­torium,
and all the accessories of a modern institution of its
kind. The Y. W. C. A. have recently purchased the building
formerly used for the ofices of the Independent telephone
company and which they refitted and remodeled as a home for
the members of this organization.
It is worthy of mention in connection with Boise as a re­ligious
center that the Catholics have a fine new cathedral
PINNEY THEATRE.
almost complete, costing about $180,000, and maintain a resi­dent
bishop.
The Episcopal church also maintains a resident bishop.
Boise has two up-to-date hospitals, the St. Luke's and the
St. Alphonsus.
It has two daily newspapers, one morning paper, the
Idaho Daily Statesman, and one· evening paper, the Capital
News, each with complete telegraphic service.
Recently the Idaho Club Womim, and See Idaho First
magazine was removed to Boise. Illustrated Idaho, now in its
third year, is published here.
·
Boise is well supplied with amusements. The Pinney
Theatre puts on high class drama and comedy, and we have
a number of high grade picture shows, and two theaters de­voted
to stock company and vaudeville.
Boise is headquarters for one of the best baseball leagues
in the northwest and has fine ball grounds within a few
blocks from the main portion of the city.
The White City on the grounds of the Natatorium has a
scenic railway, a joy wheel, a fun factory, pavilion and skat­ing
rink, a picture show building, a band stand that will seat
60 musicians, a miniature railway, a lake for boating in the
summer and skating in the winter, an ostrich farm, and other
attractions.
Within a few miles of Boise, down the Boise Valley, is
Pierce Park, where there is a fine dancing pavilion, a beauti­ful
scenic lake for boating, splendid trees for shade, an ideal
place for picnic parties and for families to spend a few hours
away from the dust of the city.
The various labor unions are well represented. The va­rious
printing plants, including those of the two daily papers,
have large pay rolls. The larger insurance companies have
branch ofices here and this swells the volume of money that
is in circulation in the city.
The legislature meets here every two years and Boise is
the home of the state and federal offices, the members of the
supreme court, and of the district court. Some of the wealth­iest
men of the state have built their homes here and live
here. Boise bas, each year, a large number of visitors who
make the city their headquarters while they go on fishing and
hunting trips.
This section of Idaho is a veritable hunters' and fishers'
paradise. Grouse, sage hens, quail and all kinds of small
game are found here in abundance and the bigger game can
be found in the mountains within a reasonable distance from
Boise.
The finest kind of speckled trout are in our mountain
streams and lakes. Many throng here in season for hunting
and fishing.
One of the best indications of the substantial character of
a city is its banking institutions. Measured by this test
Boise has good reasons to be proud. In the history of the
SOME OF BOISE'S BUNGALOWS
city there has been only two bank failures. All of the banks
of Boise are on a solid basis. They are conservative and yet
progressive and are managed by conservative and careful
men. The buildings in which they are housed would reflect
credit on a city of 100,000 inhabitants. The total bank clear­ings
of all the banks in the city for 1912 were $41,116,905.98.
In 1912 the six banks of the city had on deposit over $6,000,-
000. The average deposit in the city banks for the same year
was $552, probably as high as any in the country. Over
$1,000,000 are invested in bank furniture, fixtures and build­ings.
Boise's water system is one of the best in the United
States. It furnishes water of the highest standard of pur­ity
at a reasonable cost. Some of the supply comes from ar­tesian
wells located in the foothills above the city and some
from the river filtered through a natural filter of sand and
gra,·el into large wells and from there pumped into mains.
Boise has a good gas plant with an investment of $500,-
000. This plant paid out in wages in the city in 1912, $12,-
000, and expended in improvements during the year $47,-
000. The total capacity of the storage plant is 150,000 cu­bic
feet.
Many of the families of Boise use either gas or electri­city
for cooking.
Tap any of the mains of the Boise water system any time of
the day or night, anywhere in the city, and you get a glass
of pure, sparkling water, cool and refreshing. The Boise
water system represents an investment of $500,000 and has
a capacity of 800,000 cubic feet per 24 hours.
Electricity for lighting, heating and power purposes is
furnished mainly by the Idaho and Oregon Light and Power
Company, as formerly known. Since the consolidation of the
traction interests this company is in the merger and is now a
part of the Idaho Traction Company.
This Company procures power from three plants, the
Barber plant on the Boise river, the Horseshoe Bend plant on
the Payette river, and the Swan Falls plant on the Snake
river. T)lese plants have a combined capacity of 12,000
horsepower, and may be enlarged to double that amount.
This company also has a large plant partly completed at
Ox Bow on the Snake river which will be capable of deliver­ing
30,000 horse power for electrical energy. Boise, Nampa,
Caldwell, Ontario, Payette and Weiser are among the towns
supplied with power by this company.
The Beaver River Power Company, which has been oper­ating
in Utah for about five years, is now operating quite ex­tensively
in southern Idaho. It has a development hydraulic
plant on the Malad river of 7500 horse power capacity and
with an ultimate development of 30,000 horse power. The
Malad river is only 2ljz miles long from its origin in the
lava rocks, and no ice has ever been known to form on it,
so that all danger of hindrance from ice is eliminated. This
company has a line from the Malad to Boise of 90 miles. It
supplies power and light to a number of other places along
the line and will extend to Weiser and the lower country
this season where they will supply power for pumping pur­poses.
They have laid their lines throughout Boise and are
supplying a number of people. On 17th and River streets,
Boise, the company have a steam turbine generating plant
of 2500 horse power capacity which is for reserve in case of
emergency either to lines or plant on the Malad river.
Supplementary to the general educational institutions of
Boise are the summer Chautauqua and the Summer Normal
School. The Chautauqua has been running now for three
years and is attracting wide attention. Its board employs the
very ablest Chautauqua talent in the nation and the lectures
and entertainments are of a very high order and contribute
to the pleasure and information of many people who come here
from different parts of the state to attend. Some of the very
best musical talent available present their best programs at
the Boise Chautauqua.
The Summer normals are largely attended by those about
to tngage in teaching and those who wish to refresh them­selves
in theory and practice. It is under state management
and some of the very best educational talent in the United
States are among the lecturers and instructors at this school.
The State Teachers' association holds its annual session in
Boise.
Boise is especially a city of beautiful homes. It is one of
the most picturesque cities in the west. Here we get a glimpse
of the Owyhees lifting their heads in the snow. We see the
pines nodding on the adjacent slopes of the mountains. The
sunrise strikes no fabled Memnon into chastened music but it
touches the green grass and flowers of the hills into glad­dening
smiles. No Euphrates pours its golden tide through
our streets, out the cool and limpid water from our irrigating
canals ripples its musical laughter from the Natatorium to the
Soldier's Home. How Rembrandt and Millet would have re­joiced
to set up their easels amid so much loveliness and
spread its magic charm about Boise.
􀁝􅴱1any of the rich mining and stock men build homes and
live here and educate their children. The cultured throng
here; and here the poor who want to better their condition find
EMPIRE BUILDING
a shelter and an opportunity to achieve; here the poor get
rich and the sick get well; it is the home of the artist and
the laborer, the civilian and the soldier, the man of business
and the man of leisure. Come and cast in your lot with us.
POINTS OF VANTAGE
You are interested in kno􀁍􄵩ing what gives Idaho its su­premacy.
It is the supply point for the rich mining and
agricultural country adjacent. This is one item.
You must know that the mines of the Boise Basin, and
Silver City, of Neal and Pearl, together with the important
placer mines along the Boise and the Snake, employ a large
number of men and demand a large amount of supplies.
While the Basin and the Owyhee mines are not producing
as largely in gold, silver and lead as they did some years ago,
they are still large producers. They make a market for the
lliE PAYE1TE LAKE, BOISE'S SUMMER RESORT
products of the ranches of the Boise Valley and also for all
kinds of supplies which the Boise wholesale trade furnishes.
A statement as to the immense wholesale trade of Boise may
be found on another page of this booklet.
The sheep industry calls for its quota of supplies, a very
large part of which Boise wholesalers furnish.
In addition to this, Boise is connected by trolley with all
the near hy towns, and by telephone with all the towns of the
entire Snake river \·alley. These towns pour a large number
of people into the city daily to make purchases they can get
cheaper and better here, and to attend social functions, the­aters,
concerts and fraternal meetings of various kinds, and
the telephone orders come in for goods to be sent by post or
express.
Then again, BoisP is the center of a vast irrigation dis­trict
covering over 800,000 acres of the finest agricultural and
fruit lands in the United States. This vast acreage is rapidly
being reduced to cultivation; it is being cultivated by indus­trious
and frugal people from other states, some of the very
best brawn and brain of the nation, and these help increase
the trade and business of Boise.
Just above the city, on the mesa) where, some 60 years
ago, those French Canadian Voyagers under Captain Bonne­ville
looked down upon the present site of Boise, are now
orchards and smiling fields and happy homes. The recent
extension of our trolley lines all over what is known as "the
bench" brings this large population in touch with our busi­ness
and social life.
In short as all roads once found their center in Rome, so
all roads of business and political life head towards Boise
as the metropolis of the state and arc potent factors in giving
it supremacy.
This feature is worth working out more in detail, so we
invite your attention to some of the main factors of Boise's
supremacy.
FIRST POINT OF VANTAGE-IRRIGATION
In the west, Irrigation is king. Irrigation is almost as old
as human history. Even before the pyramids of Egypt were
built, people knew how to divert water from rivers and streams
and lead them out onto arid plains to make crops grow. In
the valley of the Nile and in many valleys of India were vast
systems of irrigation that made these portions of the Orient
the granaries of the then known world. From the earliest
period of Egyptian history, irrigation was a function of the
government.
Lake Moeris was formed by artificial means from the
natural depression in the Syrian desert in the district of Fa­room,
from which canals were led in all directions to irrigate
the surrounding desert, water being fed into the lake from
the Nile. In many places in the higher districts of Egypt,
water was drawn in buckets by slaves and put into reservoirs
higher up, and this in turn was bucketed still higher, until
the top of the bank was reached when canals led the water
onto the land.
Without irrigation but little could be done in raismg
grain, fruit and vegetables in what is known as southern Ida­ho.
When the mines of the Boise Basin and Silver City were
at their best and pouring into the lap of business hundreds of
millions of gold, the large mining population was supplied
with vegetables and other food stufs from Boise gardens
and the Boise Valley, produced by means of taking small
canals from the Boise river and leading the water out onto
the sage-brush plains.
Idaho leads the world in irrigation. No other state in
the union can boast of such an irrigated area as Idaho; no
other state has expended so many millions of dollars in the
reclamation of arid lands, and no state has so many acres
a\·ailable to public entry. Idaho's canals are the longest;
her engineering feats the most wonderful; and her water
supply the most inexhaustible. No other state has been more
active in securing the benefits of the provisions of the Carey
Act, and, with possibly one exception, no other state has
benefited so much from the U. S. Reclamation Act. And,
furthermore, no other state has done so much and made so
much progress in irrigation through individual effort and
private enterprises.
From a very small beginning so insignificant as to consist
of a single furrow extending from a rivulet to a garden spot
a few rods away, it has developed to embrace an irrigated
district of over 5,000,000 acres of land, with canals aggre­gating
13,000 miles in length and costing approximately
$100,000,000.
Boise is in a position to reap the advantage of a very
large part of the vast systems of irrigation of southern Ida­ho.
In Ada county of which Boise is the county seat, there are
over I 00,000 acres susceptible of irrigation, and it is now
nearly all being irrigated and cultivated.
Boise is practically the center of 300,000 acres of good
irrigated lands.
The state projects developing irrigation in this state are
known as the Carey Act Projects, while the others are gov­ernment
projects.
Of the former, Idaho has projected and in operation 40
diferent enterprises with an area of 2,000,000 acres, and con­templating
in the total cost of construction nearly $70,000,-
000. The estimated length of the main canals of Carey Act
projects is 1,398 miles, and there has already been expended
on them $23,000,000. The acreage already entered under
these projects is 726,000 in round numbers, and the acreage
still open to settlement is over 200,000.
The New York canal furnishes water for irrigating a
large section of very fine agricultural and fruit lands on the
mesa just above Boise. It is almost a river in itself. Already
on the mesa are some of the finest fruit farms and general
ranches anywhere in the west. The volume of water has
heretofore not been large enough in the hot months especially
to suficiently water the crops and fruit trees on the bench,
and so a project was conceived to store the water of the Boise
river to form a supply against the low water of the summer
months. This resulted in one of the most colossal dams for
storing purposes in the known world. The object of this
dam, known as the Arrow Rock Dam, is to store the waters
of the Boise river so that they may be let out into not only
the New York canal, but other canals that irrigate the Boise
Valley in the summer months when water in the river is low.
You will be interested in knowing more of the Arrow
Rock Dam and hence we make a separate paragraph of this
booklet to briefly describe it.
THE ARROW ROCK DAM
It is worthy of note that the Assouan Dam, the greatest
engineering feat of the eastern continent, and the Arrow
Rock Dam, the greatest engineering feat of the western con­tinent,
should be completed about the same time.
The Assouan Dam makes of the Nile a great lake. It
cost $7,500,000. It will irrigate 1,000,000 acres of land
heretofore sterile for lack of water. It is estimated that the
·LOCATION OF ARROW ROCK DAM. 351 f
111111111111111111111 IIIII Ill Ill I Ill 111111111 IIIII I IIII Ill 111111 II II
annual increase of the value of the cotton crop will be
$20,000,000.
Its double on this continent will bring thousands of acres
of rich land into cultivation.
Victor Hugo said that tQ describe a battle there is needed
a man with chaos in his touch. To describe the Arrow Rock
Dam properly, would require a composite m'an with the bal­anced
talents of Hugo, Ruskin, and Balzac. It is something
colossal. Even a casual view of it rouses feelings of awe.
It has a vast and somber perspective of mountains that spread
their evergreen banners of pine and loom awful and solemn
in rugged grandeur. To chain a river that rushes in cataract
and plunges with almost lightning like swiftness, to hold back
its waters that they do not run to waste in the sea and make
them a lake whose limpid waters can be led out by canals to
make glad the dusty face of the desert in whose wake
!POUNDS 176,000 ACRE-FEET OF WATER:
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
will spring up farms and orchards and gardens with apple
and peach tree fruited deep, this was their problem.
In this marvelously inventive age, no task seems too gi­gantic
for the intellect of man, and after years of thought,
the great work was begun; it will be completed, so it is as­serted
by those in charge, in I 9 I 5.
The dam is "built in the Boise river, and the first problem
was what to do with the river while the dam was being
constructed. The answer to this was the digging of a tunnel
80 feet wide, 25 feet high and 500 feet long. It carries the
entire river around the dam site. The engineers excavated
some 80 feet below the river bed to reach the bed rock.
Before beginning the work the government found it nec­essary
to build a town and a railroad. The town is a model
one and the railroad is the only one owned and operated by
the United States government. It is 17 miles in length.
The dam itself is the highest in the world, higher even
than the Assouan dam. The area of its foundation is one
acre. Its maximum height is about 851 feet. It is 16 feet
in width at the top. About 2500 car loads of sand and cement
will be used in its construction. The concerete in the dam, if
placed in a column 10 feet square, would reach to a height
of about 27 miles. The water in the reservoir will cover to
a depth of one foot an acre of 860 square miles. Together
with what is' known as the Deer Flat reservoir, that of Ar­row
Rock will furnish a late season water supply for 240,000
acres of land in Boise Valley. So far the expense of the
construction of the entire Boise project is, in round
numbers, $6,854,000. The total cost of the construction of
this great dam will reach in the neighborhood of $7,000,000,
according to the estimate of the engineers.
We have entered into these details in order to give you
something of an idea of the gigantic character of this great
engineering feat. It stands related in a very large way to
the continued prosperity of Boise. It is one of the factors
that enters into the points of vantage possessed by the capi­tal
city of Idaho.
In addition to this the New York canal on the bench, al­most
a river of itself, irrigates an immense section all imme­diately
tributary to Boise. It is fed by the Boise river and
receives a part of the storage of the Arrow Rock dam.
Beside, two large canals run through the city, also fed
by the Boise river, that furnish water for irrigating lawns in
the city and lands throughout the Boise Valley. Thus it will
be seen, the entire country adjacent to Boise is well supplied
with water for irrigation and other purposes.
The reader must grasp the thought that irrigation is one
of the main factors in the culture of the land in southern
Idaho. As Egypt was said to be the gift of the Nile, so the
. abundant crops that contribute much to the prosperity of
Boise are the gift of irrigation.
Another thing must be impressed indelibly: It is irri­gation
that makes profitable crops of all kinds absolutely
Outlet Galea at Deer Flat Reservoir, Boise Reclamation Project
certain. In many sections of the east and middle west and
south and in New England, the drought often spreads ruin
and makes agriculture uncertain. There is no uncertainty
here in the Boise Valley; you will get a good crop every year.
All you have to do is to tickle the earth with a plow, sow the
seed, put on the water, which you have absolutely under your
control, and your crop is assured.
This feature among other things, is what makes Boise a
most desirable place to live in or to have as headquarters. It
is to irrigation we owe our fruit, our grasses, our grains, our
vegetables, in fact, every thing that soil produces.
􀀁􀅯oise produces the finest fruit in the world. Her apples,
peaches, pears, apricots, cherries, plums and prunes, cannot be
excelled anywhere for flavor and size. Her small fruits,
strawberries, dewberries, blackberries, gooseberries, and the
like, are unrivaled.
Good incomes are received each year from a few acres of
strawberries. A ten acre tract set out in winter apples is an
assured competence, while a twenty acre tract set out in either
prunes, apples or cherries, is a modest fortune.
Five acres properly cultivated and discreetly managed, lo­cated
on the bench, or anywhere in the Boise Valley, will
make a good living for any family. They have at their very
doors by means of our trolley lines access to all the city af­fords
in the way of market, schools, theaters, concerts,
churches and all kinds of wholesome entertainment and
pleasure.
Under another head this booklet will be found a more de­tailed
account of what is profitably produced in and around
Boise.
Under the present homestead law only three years are re­quired
to prove up on a homestead in this state, and a bill has
been introduced in congress to allow 80 years time to pay for
the water right on lands entered under government projects.
It will probably become a law.
FEDERAL BUILDING IDAHO BUILDING
SECOND POINT OF VANTAGE-HOLD ON
ENVIRONMENT
Boise stands immediately related to all the leading indus­tries
and to all the leading towns in this part of the state.
It is a sort of parent of them all. In a business, social and
educational way, it has the most cordial relations with them
all.
The rich mines pour their wealth through the U. S. Assay
ofice located here into its channels of trade. The immense
profits of the large and important sheep industry find their
way into the coffers of Boise merchants and into Boise
banks and gradually reach the masses of the people and the
laboring classes in one way or another.
The great earnings of the large tracts devoted to the cul­ture
of agriculture, fruit and vegetable products help to
swell the wealth of the people of Boise.
The Boise Barracks which is now a four troop post, of
the regular army, on which was recently spent in substantial
improvement $250,000, add quite largely to the money circu­lation
of Boise.
Boise is connected by trolley with Eagle, Star, Middleton,
Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian, and other points, and the people
of all these places do a large shopping trade in Boise. This
leads naturally to a special paragraph on
BOISE'S INTERURBAN LINES
·with the construction of the Interurban line down the
Boise Valley a new era opened for all the intervening sec­tion.
It was built solidly and had first class. car-equipment
and gave first class service.
The line known as the Boise Valley road running up on the
bench and connecting Boise with Meridian and Nampa also
brought Boise into more immediate touch with a very desir­able
class of people and business.
The city also has a fair system of trolley lines reaching
nearly every part and supplying means of transportation.
During the closing months of the last year, however, a
deal was made by which all the electric lines came under one
management. The various lines were taken over and are now
operated under the name of the Idaho Traction Company.
What is known as the Mainland interests have now control
of all the interurban and city lines, and in addition to the
amount already expended, amounting to approximately $8,-
000,000, they are making many improvements and extending
their lines which involves the expenditure of many thousands
more.
This merger gives Boise one of the very best trolley line
service in the west, fully up-to-date. It places Boise within
a few hours of Caldwell, Nampa, and other towns on what is
known as the loop.
A line running clear around the bench puts Boise in close
touch with the large population there. They have a quick and
very satisfactory service.
The amount of interurban mileage is 59 miles; city mile-
·•
Modern Depot of Idaho Traction Company from which all Interurban Can Start
age, 21 miles. The trolley system employs 167. Over $500,-
000 was spent by this company for labor alone during the
past year. Estimated value, $2,000,000. Boise now has the
best interurban system of any city for its size in the United
States.
Among the public buildings of note are the capital build­ing,
the city hall, the Penitentiary, the Soldier's Home, the
United States Assay Ofice building, the Federal building in
which is the post ofice and all the Federal Ofices, the Carne­gie
Library building, the Natatorium, and the Pinney The­ater.
The United States government has a building for the
use of the Reclamation service.
A glance at the cuts of the business blocks in this booklet
will give an idea of the character of business and ofice build­ings
of Boise.
The postal receipts for the year 1911 were $96,902.22, and
for 1912 they were $103,928.31. This shows a very fair in­crease.
There were quite a number of improvements made
in the postoffice building during the past year, a large num­ber
of new boxes were put in and the interior of the ofice
made more handy for the rapidly increasing business.
In addition to furnishing and running an up-to-date trol­ley
interurban system, the Idaho Traction Company owns and
runs one of the very finest (the Natatorium) indoor bathing
resorts in the United States. A detailed description of this
resort is given under the head of Boise Buildings in another
section of this booklet.
Another item under this general head may as well be dis­cussed
here. Boise has already done something in the way
of manufacturing. The city is the natural location for woolen
mills to handle the large wool crop of this part of the state;
for alfalfa mills; for factories to handle the immense output
of vegetables, such as beans and peas and corn, and fruit can­neries.
Her vast resources in the way of electric power make
Boise a natural manufacturing center.
Two large electric power companies now have electric
power in any quantity for sale right here in Boise. This
makes power easy to obtain, and in the next few years no
doubt those interested in new fields to establish manufactur­ing
establishment will turn to Boise as offering the very best
opportunities for profitable manufacturing.
Boise has not as yet done very much in this line but she
has done something.
The following table will give an idea of the beginning that
Boise has made in the line of manufacturing:
MADE IN BOISE
Commodity Investment
Creameries ... .. . ......... .. $ 60,000
Cigars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000
Cement pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000
Candy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85,000
Brooms .................. .
Trunks ................... .
Shirtwaists ............... .
Soap ..................... .
Sweeping c􀁗􅝭mpound ....... .
Briek .................... .
2,000
10,000
1,000
5,000
1,000
10,000
Employees.
40
80
20
60
8
6
8
6
2
10
Qariea ·
.
" ................. 100,00 50
Hai'Deal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,00 •
Teata, a'WIIiap .. . . . 􀀃􀌮 . . . . . . 5,00 15
Mattreeea . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10,000 10
Apiary roocla . . .. .. .. .. .. .. 10,000 10
Bottlinl planta . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000 15
Foundries and machine shops 100,000 50
Bakeries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,000 80
Packing houses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,000 · 80
Coffee roasting . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,000 5
Brewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150,000 50
Canning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,000 12
Totals .......... ........$ 674,000 478
In addition to the manufacturies already named Boise
has a Sash and Door company, an institution known as the
Capital Sash and Door Company, the Coast Lumber company,
Boise Lumber Company, two ice companies, and two Beef
Packing companies.
The Barber Lumber company has a fine plant with a ca­pacity
of a million feet a day located near Boise. It will re­sume
operations in a few months. This company employs a
large number of men and in addition to its lumber output,
manufactures immense quantities of fruit boxes. In order to
bring its timber to the mill the Barber Lumber company has
perfected plans for building a railroad into the Boise Basin
which will develop considerable new business for this city.
The following paragraphs from the columns of the Idaho
Daily Statesman's annual for 1912 is of interest in this con­nection:
"During 1912 two important manufacturing concerns have
entered the field. They are the Boise Stone company and the
Western Bottling company. Both are organized on broad
lines.
The Boise Stone company has commenced the develop-
FREIGHTING WOOL IN FROM THE RANGE
ment of the splendid stone quarry properties near the city.
The quality of the stone is equal to anything found in the
United States. The company is preparing to ship its pro­duct
to all points in the west. The company is now con­structing
a tramway that will carry the rock to the ship­ping
point.
The Western Bottling company was launched during the
year with a full line of bottled soft drinks, extracts and
specialty goods in the bottled line. It is shipping its pro­ducts
to all points in the intermountain region, and though
but a new concern, is already preparing to enlarge its plans.
The cigar manufacturing business has made a notable
advance in the last year. Local manufacturers have raised
the standard of their goods and made popular their brands.
They have thereby increased the demand for them in their
home territory, and to see a Boise man calling for a Boise
made cigar is no longer an uncommon sight."
BOISE'S VOLUME OF BUSINESS
Boise's volume of business has increased steadily every
year. The much wider area covered by her wholesale trade
in comparison with other cities of much larger size, to­gether
with the reasonable prices at which her merchandise is
offered to purchasers gives Boise a commanding position in
this respect.
Her jobbing trade is one of the factors that makes Ida­ho's
capital great in a business sense.
In the year 1912 the volume of business of Boise was
easily $10,000,000 as compared with $8,000,000 for the pre­vious
year. This, in itself, is a measure of the progress of
one year.
The wholesale district comprises 12 blocks, the buildings
are mostly brick, and the houses include almost every article
used by man from plows to pins and shaving soap.
About 800 people are employed by the jobbers and whole­salers.
The 200 traveling salesmen who make headquarters
in Boise travel from eastern Oregon far into the interior of
southern Idaho. Of the 200 men who work from Boise, 57
are employed by Boise firms.
The implement and dry goods wholesale business show the
largest increases. The implement jobber whose business and
stock of goods are located in Boise have done $50,000 more
business this year than last. The capital and stock of the
implement firms located in Boise exceed $250,000.
The wholesale dry goods trade is credited with doing
$1,250,000 business in 1912.
The wholesale grocery business here has increased ten per
cent the last year and its volume of business foots up $45,-
000,000.
The hardware jobbing business has done well, the busi­ness
in this department amounting to $650,000 the past year.
Packing and produce houses report a good year. The
volume of business of this department is estimated at $1,-
500,000.
The Oregon Short Line reports over 3,818,000,000 pounds
of freight received at the Boise freight depot and 78,982,-
884 forwarded.
BOISE'S SCHOOLS
The public schools of Boise rank with the very best of the
nation. This is quite clear from the report submitted to the
Board of Education by the committee of eminent educators
who recently made a thorough examination of the schools,
courses of study, buildings and methods of teaching. The
committee was composed of Edward Elliott, of the University
of Wisconsin; Dr. Stayer, of Columbia Uni.Yersity, and Dr.
Judd of the Chicago University. Among other things these
eminent educators say in their report:
"The course of study is comprehensive. It includes the
fundamental subjects which have long been recogni􀁣􆍥ed as es­sential
to any school training, and also includes those forms
of organized knowledge and activity which in the last gen­eration
have transformed and enriched the course. Especially
commendable is the full and unqualified recognition of the im­portance
of such matters as health, recreation and various
types of industrial activity."
"The supervisory staff of the school system is organized
in accordance with the practice prevailing in the most pro­gressive
cities of the United States."
"The more evident source of strength of a school system
is the standard of qualifications maintained for the teaching
and supervisory staff. To be eligible for appointment to a
position in the elementary schools, under the existing regula­tions
of the board of education, a teacher must have complet­ed
a four year course of study in the high school; must be a
graduate of a standard two-year normal school; and in addi­tion,
must have had at least two years of successful experi­ence
in a school system of recognized standing. Eligibility
for appointment in the high school is based upon college or
university graduation, and two years of approved teaching ex­perience."
The valuation of the property belonging to the Independ­ent
school district of Boise is about $1,000,000. There are
ten school buildings in the 􀁤􆑩istrict, all of them handsome and
commodious, equipped with the latest apparatus and up-to-
BOISE'S NEW HIGH SCHOOL
date in every respect. The high school building recently com­pleted
is among the finest in the west. There are, at present,
121 teachers in the schools. In 1912 the district paid in sal­aries
to teachers $121,000. The present enrollment is 8943.
There are 875 pupils in the high school.
Another item in relation to the educational institutions
of Boise is that the enrollment in the high school is the great­est
in proportion to the total enrollment than any other cities
in the United States except two, Berkeley, California, and
Newton, Massachusetts, and there is but a shade of difference
in these two exceptions. Berkeley is the seat of the Univer­sity
of California and large numbers of people come there for
the purpose of passing their children from the high school
to the university, which accounts for the largeness of the high
school enrollment there. Newton similarly plays into Har­vard
college. Boise high school enrollment is under normal
conditions and the exceptions noted really add to its proper
fame.
In addition to the ordinary branches of an English grade
and high school education, the Boise school teaches domestic
science, manual training, bookkeeping, stenography and type­writing.
In addition to the public schools, Boise has three private
schools and one business college. Under Protestant Episco­pal
auspices St. Margaret's Hall is a school for girls. It of­fers
good advantages under high morall\uspices. It has been
established 20 years, has fine building.•. good equipment and
teachers. There are at present 100 pupils in attendance.
St. Teresa's Academy, under Catholic auspices, is also a
schcol for girls; has a liberal course of study and a good
corps of instructors.
St. Joseph's is a school for boys and is doing good work.
Link's Business College is recognized as being one of the
very best institutions of its kind in the west.
Those who wish the best educational advantages for their
children, will find them in Boise. Our trolley service enables
people to live anywhere down the Boise Valley, or on the
bench and send their children to school in Boise. Special
rates are given by the trolley company to pupils attending
school.
BOISE FRUIT
The fame of Boise· fruit practically girdles the world.
The soil seems to be especially adapted to the raising of all
kinds of fruit, small and large, excepting, of course, the
tropical fruits. .
In all the competitive examinations of late years, Boise
fruit has taken the palm. The finest prunes in the world are
raised in the Boise Valley. This fruit alone has averaged a
profit to the grower of from $100 to $200 per acre, and the
market is constantly and rapidly growing. There is not much
good prune land anywhere in the west, and hence there is no
probability of over production.
No jucier, or finer looking apples are raised anywhere
A Boise Prize Winnina Exhibit at Apple Show
than in and around Boise. When rightly handled they yield
a profit of from $100 to $400 an acre.
There is no danger of over production, for the apple
market is constantly being enlarged. Millions of people in
different parts of the world are hungry for the delicious ap­ples
produced in this section of the country. With increased
facilities for transportation and a lowering of rates which
will surely come in a few years, the already large profits of
our apple crops, will, no doubt, be increased.
Large areas around Boise are given over to peaches and
cherries. One cherry orchard that has been bearing but a
few years has done so exceptionally well, that its owner es­tablished
a canning plant on his acreage, and is now putting
up the finished product, much to his own advantage. Peaches
do remarkably well, all the finest varieties being produced
in abundance.
Boise pears are the astonishment of all who see and eat
them. For many years California was ahead of all other
states of the west in the matter of raising Bartlet pears. For
a long time Boise Bartlet pears were looked upon as being in­ferior
to the California product, but in point of flavor and
freedom from blemishes, the Boise Bartlett pear far overtops
that of California and is a great favorite in the market.
Apricots are produced in large quantities and are of the
very finest quality.
In the matter of small fruits such as strawberries, rasp­berries,
gooseberries, blackberries, etc., Boise cannot be ex­celled.
A few acres set out in small fruits under any of the irri­gated
canals of this section, is a competence for any family.
Published statements under the signature of some of the
best fruit growers, in and around Boise, men of irreproachable
reputation, will be furnished cheerfully to those who send in
applications, showing what immense profits there are in fruit
raising.
Apart from the general market for fruits as they are
shipped away from here, the local market from the adjacent
mines is exceptionally good and very valuable to the fruit
grower. The mining camps near Boise take a large amount
of fresh fruit and pay good prices for the same.
Then, again, through the eforts of the Commercial Club
and leading citizens of Boise, a canning factory has been
established here, which, while yet in its beginning, has sent
out a large output during the past year and is preparing to do
more.
One feature of the fruit industry of Boise is worthy of
special mention-the certainty of the crop.
With the exception of very early fruit which is sometimes
caught by an early frost, the trees and the vines produce un­failingly.
This liability to fruit is now being avoided by
smudging.
The fruit growers of Boise are not dependent upon un­certain
rains for the maturity of their crops. By virtue of
our splendid irrigation system, the water for necessary quan-
PLACER MINING IN BOISE BASIN
tity is absolutely under the control of the grower, and he can
put it on and take it of at will. There is a wealth of sunshine
that matures the fruit crop, so that fruit growers here are
working with the least possible modicum of risk.
Within a few miles of Boise, either down the valley, or
over the Bench, and within easy access of the city's fine
trolley lines, are good tracts of land that can be obtained very
reasonably. Homeseekers and those desiring to pay special
attention to fruit growing, can secure from five to ten acres,
either more or less, which, when set out in fruit, will yield a
good living, if not a competence, and will grow in value from
year to year.
THE NEW CAPITOL BUILDING
This new Capitol building, the monumental section of
which has rec􀀿􃽮ntly been completed, is an architectural gem.
It was built of native stone quarried from the hills near
Boise, the base of granite. The construction of the building
The Natatorium, BoiM'• Famoua Swimmi.,. Pool, Supplied
by Two Arteaian Wella ol Natural Hot Water
is heavy and substantial, and the materials entering into its
construction are durable. Its dome is a close rival of the
famed dome of the Congressional Library building of Wash­ington,
D. C. The interior is luxurious in its appointments
and admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was built.
It will cost, when completed, $2,000,000. About one million
dollars have already been expended. The building is dis­tinguished
from other capitols in having a bright rotunda,
flooded with light, and in this, that the marble composing its
finish, is of white material with dark green veinings. Its
furnishings are elegant and tasteful. It is heated and ven­tilated
according to the very latest methods.
THE NATATORIUM
This bathing, health and pleasure resort has most appro­priately
been called the Taj Mahal of the west. Its thermal
waters are taken from three artesian wells 400 feet deep and
are 172 degrees Fahrenheit. The building is most pictur­esque
and beautiful, being of the Moorish style of architec­ture.
It has a plunge 120 feet long and 70 feet wide, vary­ing
in depth from two to 16 feet. The bottom of the plunge
is lighted by I 0 submarine electric lights of about 8000 can­dle
power. Facilities are afforded for nearly every kind of
bathing. There are 180 dressing rooms including bath tubs
and steam baths, the latter having massage rooms in connec­tion.
There is a gymnasium on the third floor under the man­agement
of the Boise Athletic club. The artesian wells sup­plying
the Natatorium yield 1,800,000 gallons of water every
24 hours, and are used, in addition to furnishing water for the
baths and heating the building, to supply water to heat a large
number of public buildings and private residences in the city.
The streets of Boise are sprinkled with hot water furnished
from the Natatorium wells. The Natatorium grounds are
handsomely laid out and delightfully shaded. It is a general
resort for the people of Boise, and a mecca for visitors.
The property is valued at $210,000, and they have recently
added improvements amounting to $10,000.
TO THOSE ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN FARMING
Boise and vicinity offer very superior opportunities to
those who wish to enter systematically and thoroughly into
plain, everyday farming. There is probably no place in the
west where an investment of a reasonable amount of money
and intelligent, persevering effort will assure, in so short a
time, not only a competence, but a modest fortune.
Near Boise are rich lands, all under some one of our
irrigating canals that insure plenty of water and large, cer­tain
crops of all kinds of farm products at good prices and
near to market.
Alfalfa is raised here in large quantities, from 4 to 8
tons to the acre in all the three crops of the season. Alfalfa
is one of the very best feeds for cattle, horses, hogs and
sheep. It produces more fat than any other grass. Mills are
going up near Boise for the purpose of grinding the alfalfa
into a meal which goes far and wide to the middle west as
Makina Hay in Idaho-The Sun Alwaya Shinea
feed for stock. Boise Valley farmers have received as high
as $50,000 in one spring from one community in Wisconsin
for Alfalfa for the use of the fine blooded stock there. All
the natural grasses are produced in abundance. Clover yields
two crops a year. Timothy does well. Vegetables of all
kinds especially potatoes and sugar beets.
The latter yield from 15 to 20 tons to the acre with 19
per cent of sugar. They return a profit of $40 an acre. From
250 to 500 sacks of potatoes an acre are produced. In one
instance $1780 was received as the gros!\, returns from six
acres of ground. There are no potato bugs in the Boise
Valley.
Dairying is rapidly developing into a most profitable in­dustry
in the territory immediately adjacent to Boise. Ours
is a section where the cow comes swiftly and surely into her
own. Pasture is good eight and one-half months in the year,
and succulent storage is always obtainable. Steers are
A JERSEY FAMILY
brought to their full weight on pasture and hay and without
one kernel of corn or other grain and these same steers will
bring the highest market price in competition with the corn
fed steers from the middle west. The cost of procuring a
crop of hay is 40 per cent less than that of producing a crop
of corn, and the diference goes into the farmers' pocket.
Poultry is a very profitable by-product of the farm in
the Boise Valley. One of our farmers with a plant covering
20 acres with 60 buildings, and a flock of from 2,000 to 8,000
birds, and a total investment of $5,000, cleared over $2,000
annually. The climate is very favorable to fowls. Eggs sel­dom
fall below 20c a dozen, and average during the year 40c
a dozen.
Hogs are a prolific source of wealth to the farmer of the
Boise Valley. Here hogs can be developed to 150 pounds at
a
.
cost of two cents a pound. With a ration of ground wheat
and barley they can be brought in 60 days additional to from
200 to 225 pounds. It costs from six to seven cents a pound
to fatten hogs; the profit at the rate hogs usually sell for, is
quite evident. An Idaho hog prefers alfalfa to grain.
BOISE'S
.
COMMERCIAL CLUB
It may be proper in this booklet to speak modestly with
reference to the work of the Boise Commercial Club. It is
not many years old but it is fruitful of good works. It is
composed of the leading business men of Boise with quite a
sprinkling of the solid laboring class. Boise's Commercial
club is built upon lines of use. The fourth story of the Boise
City National Bank Building, corner of 8th and Idaho, has
been taken over and is now occupied by the Commercial Club.
Apart from the amusement features and opportunity for
harmless recreation, the Commercial Club rooms are so many
points of energy that raidiates not only over the entire city,
but also over all southern Idaho. Its interests lie not only
for Boise, but for all of the cities and towns in this part of
the state. No question of public interest escapes its scrutiny.
Every good work finds behind it Boise's ·Commercial Club.
Its widening circles of influence extend in every direction.
There are kept on hand at the club rooms all sorts of pamph­lets,
documents and books that tell what Boise is, and the op­portunities
she offers for investment. Its Secretary would be
glad to furnish any of these articles on application.
Additional facts more in detail will be furnished on appli­cation
to the Secretary of the Commercial Club. Special
pamphlets on the principal crops and farming industries are
being prepared and will be sent on application.
You want to know something about the price of lands.
Improved lands with perpetual water right may be bought
for $75 to $150 per acre; unimproved lands with perpetual
water right, $50 to $75 per acre; land with bearing orchards,
$300 to $600 per acre. These prices are not high, but they
are constantly going higher. Considering the dividend-pro­ducing
power, this land is as cheap as any on earth.
AFTERMATH.
Dear reader, our task is done and we are come to the part­ing
of the ways. The story is told and the question presses:
What do you intend to do? What are you seeking in the way
of a life home for yourself and those depending on you? Do
you seek a land where the sun shines
'
and the flowers bloom,
where delicious fruit gladdens the boughs, where the air is
instinct with health, where a competence and even a modest
fortune waits on a modicum of toil? A land of lofty moun­tains
and fertile valleys, where there is opportunity for all,
where you and your dear ones can sit under your own vine
and fig tree and enjoy all the comforts and many luxuries of
life? Where a little money ofers the best return for invest­ment,
the glad, wide land of the Gem of the Mountains where
there is plenty and to spare?
Do any of these things move you? Then act, and act
promptly. Every day's delay is one more opportunity less.
Boise, the beautiful, extends to you a welcoming hand.
W DIR.ECT 'WAY
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